No Ordinary Bullets
by Topazicatzbeth
Summary: An officer down call has the team working hard to find out who hurt one of their own.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Hey, back with another story. Hope you enjoy it. As always a massive thanks for wenwalke's helps and her amazing title skills.**

 **Im on count down til my hol to Florida, 8 weeks today. *happy dance* the season premier also starts that week so double count down.**

 **Disclaimer: No copy right infringement intended.**

 **Chapter One**

The team were just finishing their lunch at Kamekona's when Steve's phone rang. He carefully listened to the Governor then rose to his feet. "We have to go guys. We have an officer down call. The Governor wants us on it. Danny and I will head to the hospital, you three go to the scene." Steve passed the address to Chin.

"Officer down? Do we know who?" Kono was concerned as 5-0 worked closely with HPD and they knew many of the officers.

"Er, yeah." Steve sighed. "It's Pua Kai."

The team all paled, Kai was a rookie officer, but he showed good potential. He had shown good investigative skills when he tracked down Danny and Steve after they stole a Christmas tree. Despite the $1200 fine, the boys had to respect the case he had built against them. Kono had a particular soft spot for the young officer. She admired his persistence in hitting on her even though she had turned him down several times.

"Do we know what happened?" Kono was visibly upset.

"So far it looks like a traffic stop, gone bad. Danny and I will join you guys at the scene after we're done at the hospital.

The team split up, the good mood from their relaxing team lunch now long gone. When Steve and Danny arrived at the hospital they found Duke and several other officers waiting.

"Hey, Duke." Steve took the sergeants hand and shook it while putting a supporting hand on his shoulder. "Any news?"

"Not yet, Steve, all they will tell us is that he's in surgery. He took a bullet to the shoulder but there was a lot of blood."

"Ok, hang tight. We'll see what we can find out." Danny reassured, and went off in search of his secret weapon. Steve followed after him.

Danny approached the nurse's station and was about to ask the staff to locate Dr. Pearce when she came around the corner and saw the blonde detective.

"Danny, what are you doing here? What have you done this time?"

Dr. Pearce came rushing over and started examining him for any hidden wounds or signs of illness. Steve couldn't help but laugh that given the amount of trips to the ER Danny had under his belt, the doctor automatically assumed he was in need of her attention.

"Andrea, I'm fine." Danny batted her hand away as she came at him with her stethoscope. "I'm not here for me."

"Ok, Steve then." The doctor turned to her next likely candidate.

"Whoa, not me either, doc," Steve took a step back.

"Andrea, we're fine, we're here for a case. Officer Pua Kai was brought in with a gunshot wound, we were hoping you could pull some strings and maybe find out how he's doing?" Danny gave her his best smile causing her to laugh.

"Oh I get it. You're abusing our friendship."

"Well, I wouldn't call it that, maybe just a friend helping out another friend." Danny smiled then got serious. "Look he's a good officer and he has a lot of people waiting for news, even a small bit of news. We would also like any information on his injuries that might help us catch whoever did this to him."

"Of course, let me see what I can do. You can wait in the waiting room. That will be a new experience for you Danny, but Steve can show you the ropes." She turned and left, leaving Danny looking shocked, and Steve doing his best not to burst out laughing.

Twenty minutes later she returned to fill them in. She signalled to Duke and the other officers to come closer so she didn't have to repeat herself.

"Dr. Chu is working on Officer Kai. At the moment he's stable. However he has lost a lot of blood, so they're transfusing him. He has a single GSW to the left shoulder, and I'm afraid it did a lot of damage. Dr. Chu is working on pinning the scapula and repairing damage to the shoulder. Gentlemen, Dr. Chu is the best in his field. Despite the damage he is confident that with PT, and time, Officer Kai will recover fully."

A collective sigh of relief went around the waiting room and Dr. Pearce signalled for Danny and Steve to follow her as they stepped further away from the HPD officers.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Steve sensed they weren't going to like what they were about to hear.

"The wound is a through and through." Dr. Pearce started.

"That's good, isn't it?" Danny asked.

"Normally yes, however the damage that the bullet did to the shoulder bone suggests to me that it was no ordinary bullet."

"How do you mean?" Danny wasn't following her train of thought.

"The scapula is a strong bone, it usually stops bullets or will just fracture. This bullet shattered the bone, which suggests to me it wasn't a normal bullet."

"Armour piercing?" Steve asked. "I've seen armour piecing bullets shatter bone before."

"I think it's a distinct possibility." Dr. Pearce confirmed.

"Oh, man. That's not good." Danny sighed.

"Thanks doc, we're gonna head out to the scene, see what the rest of the team have found. Can you make sure you keep Sergeant Lukela informed on Office Kai's condition?

"I will." Dr. Pearce agreed. "Hey, guys. Be careful on this one."

"We will." Both boys chorused back.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

The ride to the scene was done in silence, each man concerned about the young officer's condition, and the prospect of armour piecing bullets on the island.

Getting out of the car they saw that the scene was almost finished being processed.

"Hey, how's he doing?" Kono greeted them.

"He's still in surgery, but stable, shoulders a mess. What've we got here?" Steve could see Kai's cruiser parked with the door open. A few feet away there was a large pool of blood.

"CSU have photographed the scene. They got a pretty good tire track from the mud over there." Chin indicated the area near the blood where a car had obviously been parked.

"Whoever shot Kai, also shot out the video equipment in the car so we couldn't see what happened." Lou informed them.

"Well that's what they wanted. Fong and I are going to take a look at it. We think we might be able to salvage something from it." Chin said hopefully.

"Did they pull the bullet out yet?" Steve was eager to see what type of bullets they were using.

"They are working on it now." Kono answered.

"Have they recovered any other bullets, Kai's wound was a through and through." Danny informed them.

"No. Not so far." Chin placed the evidence in a bag and sealed it.

"Ok guys, spread out. I want that bullet found. I want that bullet from the car too. We think the shooter may be using armour piercing rounds." Steve started searching near by trees.

CSU and the remaining HPD officers joined the search for the missing bullet. Danny stood by the spot where the tire track had been found and looked at the pool of blood where Pua had fallen. He could only imagine how scared the young officer must have been as he lay there bleeding and radioing in, officer down. Looking up he imagined the path the bullet would have taken. He then walked straight forward until he found a tree a good hundred yards away.

"Yo, guys. I found it." The bullet had punched its way through the bark before being halted by the tough inner wood.

A member of the CSU team ran over and managed to dig the bullet out, dropping it into a small see though pot, and passed it to Steve.

"Shit. Dr. Pearce was right. This is definitely an armour piercing round, but it was fired from a hand gun not a riffle. These bullets are illegal."

"So is this one." Charlie Fong came to join the team, carrying a matching pot and bullet that he had extracted from the squad cars dashboard.

"We need to find whoever did this and quick. My gut is telling me they have something major planned to be using these bullets. This is some serious fire power." Steve was concerned about the threat posed to the island.

Danny pulled out his phone as it started to ring, and answered it. A few moments later he thanked the caller and put the phone away.

"That was Andrea. Pua is out of surgery and awake. He's pretty doped up at the moment but she has persuaded his doctor to allow us to speak to him for a short time."

"Come on, let's go see him. Chin, see what you can get from that camera. Lou, Kono, see what you can get from the tire tracks then canvas the gun shops. See if they have heard anything about the bullets. They often keep their ear to the ground about these things." Steve trusted his team members to do a good job.

The team separated once again as Steve and Danny returned to the hospital.

 **TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Thanks for all the reviews on this one. Sorry it was so long in coming but life has been crazy busy for a bit.**

 **Chapter Two**

"He has lost a lot of blood, so is rather weak at the moment. I also have him on a lot of painkillers. There was extensive muscle damage, and he is going to be in pain for some time. You can have a few minutes with him, and I mean only a few minutes, gentlemen." Dr. Chu was laying down the law to the two 5-0 members.

"We understand doctor. We just want to get an idea of what happened." Steve explained then both men entered the room. Pua seemed to be resting comfortably. He had two IVs running into his right arm, one providing fluids, the other blood.

"Officer Kai." Steve spoke gently so not to startle the injured man. Slowly two hazy eyes appeared. "Good to see you're doing well man. You think you're up to telling us what happened?"

"Try." Pua was doing his best to focus on the two men in front of him but the painkillers left him with a fuzzy feeling.

"We guessed that you pulled the driver over, why did you stop them?" Danny asked.

"They...erm...they were driving suspiciously. Once they," Pua paused and cleared his throat. "When they realised I was behind them they started driving slower. Making sure they signalled early. My gut told me something was off."

"You said they. There was more than one?" Steve wanted to make sure they had the facts correct.

"Two. Young guys. I told them to get out of the car and one started to panic, pulled out the gun."

Danny helped Pua with a drink and he continued. "He shot me before I even knew what was happening. Some cop, eh?"

"Hey, stop that. Your gut told you something was wrong. You can't train that. You are going to make a fine detective one day. You couldn't have known they would panic and shoot." Danny wanted the young officer to know this was not his fault.

"I...I...thought he was going to shoot me again." Pua stammered and his heart rate increased, given away by the beeping of the machine, and Danny could see Dr. Chu hovering in the doorway.

"But he didn't." Steve reassured.

"No, he shot at the car then they just left. They left me bleeding out." Pua grimaced, obviously in pain and Danny reached over and pressed the man's pain pump.

"That's enough for now. You get some rest. Don't worry we will find them. Come on Steve." Pua nodded and let his glassy eyes close.

Once outside the room Steve turned to his friend. "What the hell, Danny? We needed a description of these guys, a make of car, anything to help us catch them."

"I know we do, but not now. He's had enough. He was in pain and his heart rate was spiking. It was only a matter of time before his doctor kicked us out. Let him sleep for a bit. We can come back later if we need to. Let's see what Chin has managed to get. Between him and Fong working their magic they are bound to have got something off the camera, and then we won't need to put him through it all again."

Steve relented and followed Danny out to the car ready to see what the rest of the team had.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

"How's he doing?" Kono had seen the two partners return to the office, and was keen for an update.

"He'll be fine. He's pretty doped up at the moment but we did get that there was two guys. He pulled them over because his gut told him they were suspicious. One of the guys panicked and shot him, shot out the camera, and fled." Danny explained.

"Did you get a description?" Lou asked. Nothing motivated the team more than an attack on one of their own.

"No. Danny pulled the plug on the interview before he could fill us in any more." Steve said frustrated.

Danny let it go. He knew Steve was frustrated at him for not pushing harder, but he knew he had done the right thing. Pua wasn't well enough to be pushed further. Chin understood where Danny was coming from so came to his friend's defence.

"We shouldn't need it anyway. Fong and I managed to pull some video. I'm just running it through a program to clean up the picture."

The team gathered around the big screen to watch the video. They couldn't help a little giggle listening to Pua singing away to himself as he cruised around the streets. Taking a right turn away from the neighbourhood and onto the back road where the attack had taken place, they all understood why Officer Kai had decided to pull over the car. The car in front suddenly slowed below the speed limit, and the driver could be seen glancing nervously into the rear view mirror.

The scene played out just as Pua had described it. The driver of the car had panicked and shot him. Kono gasped as she saw the driver stalk over to the car, and had to remind herself that Pua had only been shot once and was going to be ok. The driver disappeared from view and suddenly the screen went blank.

"He took out the camera but didn't realise it was downloaded into a hard drive." Chin started to rewind the video freezing it and capturing an image of both men and the car licence plate. A few more taps and he had several searches running.

"Did you guys get anything from the gun shop owners?" Steve asked Kono and Lou.

"Nothing man, if they knew anything they weren't going to tell us."

"Guys." Chin interrupted. "The licence doesn't match the car, it's a fake. And I'm not getting any hits on the facial recognition programs. These two aren't in the system."

"So we're no better off. We don't know who these two are." The anger was evident in Steve's voice.

"That's not true, we have a face now and a description of the car, we can put out a BOLO and maybe swing by Kamekona and see if any of his old contacts know anything." Danny said.

"That's not a bad idea. But it's probably gonna cost you." Steve knew Kamekona's previous information had ended up costing them the price of an expensive ukulele.

"Cost me?" Danny asked incensed. "Should have expected that one, would it be too much to expect you to part with some cash every once in a while, you schmuck."

"You want me to pay? Fine, I'll pay this time and you can get the next one." Steve marched out of the office leaving Danny surprised, and hurrying to catch up.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

"Howz'it bruddahs." Kamekona greeted. "Twice in one day, I'm honoured gentlemen."

"Sorry we had to cut out earlier, we got called to a case." Steve explained. "Listen man, we need your help. Officer Pua Kai was shot earlier today when he pulled over a car. These guys had armour piercing bullets in a handgun."

"We were hoping you might be able to touch base with some of your old contacts, see if anyone knows anything about who is supplying them."

"Sure thing. Anything for my favourite Haole's."

"That's great. Thanks. So err... How much is it gonna cost me?" Steve started to pull out his wallet.

"Put your money away, brah. This one is on me. Shooting a cop, that's low man. He gonna be ok?"

"Eventually." Steve slipped his wallet back into his pocket grinning at Danny.

"You realise that doesn't count as your turn, right?"

"What do you mean it doesn't count? It counts. I offered." Steve teased.

Danny shook his head and whispered "schmuck," under his breath. He then pulled out the pictures of the two guys. "Don't suppose you recognise these two do you?"

Kamekona took the pictures, ignoring the banter between the two friends and signalled Flippa over.

"Yo cuz, isn't that Kahale Kalili and his brother Tua?

"Sure looks like them. They in trouble?" Flippa looked at the picture then handed it back to Danny.

"Wait, you actually know these guys?" Steve couldn't believe their luck.

"Sure, their momma is good friends with our Auntie. They work at the docks. Good kids until they got into drugs last year."

"They aren't in the system." Danny pointed out.

"Just means they ain't been caught, brah." Kamekona pointed out.

"Thanks Kamekona. You've just given us the break we needed." Steve clapped the Hawaiian on the back to show his appreciation.

"Just try not to kill them, would break their momma's heart." The large man called out as Steve and Danny headed to the car, Steve already calling the rest of the team.

 **TBC**

 **dont worry there will be whump but there is more story to tell first.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The take down proved easy. The team swarmed the home of the Kalili family. The two brothers were baked on some of their home grown weed, and didn't put up much resistance. The two had been read their rights, marched out of the house, and left to sober up a little in the basement cells of the Palace.

The team all wanted to have a go at them, but they decided since Steve and Danny had managed to get the lead they should get to have some fun.

Slamming the door behind them Kahale jumped as the two angry men rounded on him.

"Let me tell you what is going to happen here." Steve's cold stare sent chills down the young man's back. "We already know it was you who shot Officer Kai. We have video footage of the whole thing."

"You thought you were being smart shooting out the camera, right? Wrong." Danny was enjoying watching him squirm.

"So, you are going to tell us exactly why you decided to shoot the officer, and we want to know where you got the gun and ammo from." Steve stood in front of Kahale now, bearing down on him.

"What's in it for me?" Kahale was trying to act tough, but he was obviously scared.

"In it for you? Is this guy serious?" Steve turned to Danny, at a loss at the gall of the young man.

"Hey, buddy. You tried to kill an officer of the law. You don't get a deal. Consider yourself lucky I managed to persuade my friend, Commander McGarrett here, not to tear you to pieces. Now if you don't start talking I might have to re think that." Danny could see Kahale's eyes watching Steve who was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as if to prove a point.

"Kill...? I wasn't trying to kill him. I just wanted to get away. I didn't want to kill him."

"You shot the guy and left him bleeding, you didn't think that was a possibility?" Steve roared.

"No dude, we just wanted to get away, didn't want to get busted."

"Busted? Busted for what? What was so important you had to shoot someone?" Danny had come to stand beside Steve.

"We had pot on us bruddah."

"Don't, don't bruddah me." Danny was now as mad as Steve. "All this was over some damn pot?"

"Not some, a pound." Kahale answered, realising he had nothing to lose. His best defence was to be honest and persuade them he hadn't tried to kill the police officer.

"Ok, so if we are to believe that you were stupid enough to shoot a police officer because of a bag of pot, where did you get the gun from? That wasn't standard ammo."

"Bra...Commander." Kahale corrected himself when he saw the detective's eyes widen with fury. "I don't know nothing about ammo. We found the gun down at the dock, the bullets too. There was a whole crate full in this new shipment we were unloading. Tui dropped the crate and it smashed open, we didn't think they would miss one gun and some ammo."

"What the hell were you planning on doing with it?" Steve was infuriated. A young officer had almost lost his life because two idiots had been stupid enough to get their hands on a gun.

"Some guy's been hassling us for dope. We were just gonna use it to scare the lolo bastard off."

"Ok, let's go back a bit here." Danny interrupted. "You found a shipment of guns at the docks? Where was the shipment going?"

"Some warehouse. The shipment is being moved tomorrow. Look I don't no nothing about no guns, and I didn't mean to try and kill the cop. I just wanted to get away. My Makua kane is gonna kill me. Listen, Tui didn't do anything. It was my idea to take the gun. I shot the cop. He doesn't deserve to go down for this." Kahale stared at the floor, the full gravity of the situation hitting him.

Danny signalled to Steve to step outside the room. Kahale could hear a heated discussion going on outside, and finally the two men returned. He didn't dare look them in the eye.

"If it were up to me I'd throw both you and your brother in jail and leave you both to rot, however Detective Williams has persuaded me differently." Kahale's head shot up hopefully.

"Don't get too excited, you are still a dope dealing scumbag that shot my friend." Danny enjoyed watching Kahale deflate. "You will be charged for the shooting and the dope. You're going down for a reasonable stretch. However, if you and your brother co-operate with us and give us all the information we need on this shipment we are willing to just charge Tui with procession."

"Sure. I'll tell you everything." Kahale agreed.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve and Danny entered the main office after handing the Kalili brothers over to HPD to be processed. Chin, Kono and Lou were already busy at work.

"We've looked into the shipment details. The crate arrived at the dock two days ago. It's scheduled to be collected tomorrow and moved to a warehouse near Kapolei." Chin brought the two partner's up to date.

"It was sent from Los Angeles under the company name Hindle PLC. The crate is registered as containing machinery parts for an industrial meat grinder." Kono continued.

"The dock foreman sent over all the paperwork for the crate. It all seems in order apart from the fact that the crate contained guns and ammo instead." Lou finished off.

"Have you looked into the company?" Steve asked.

"So far it looks bogus." Chin nodded.

"What about the company that ordered it?" Danny wondered.

"Sanoe Meats. The company is registered to the warehouse, but it's just in the process of setting up." Kono explained.

"So it's most likely a cover for whatever these guys are up to." Steve pulled out his phone as it started to ring.

"Aloha, McGarrett," The large Hawaiian's voice boomed allowing the others to hear too.

"Kamekona, you get anything for us?"

"Sure did, brah. A contact, who will remain nameless, heard on the Grapevine that some guys were looking for some heavy fire power. They were planning a big raid. They came to him looking for armour piecing bullets, but he sent them packing. Looks like they found another contact."

"Did this contact get a name?"

"Just a surname. Dude goes by the name of Abello. Sounds like trouble. I don't know what the Kelili brothers were doing mixing with the likes of him."

"They weren't." Steve reassured. "They just stumbled upon his goods. Thanks Kamekona that gives us something to work on."

"No problem, anything for my best customers. Err... the Kalili brothers, they still in one piece?"

"Of course they are, but the eldest is looking at some jail time."

"Might be a good thing brah, look what it did for me, now I'm a successful entrepreneur." Kamekona boosted.

"Let's hope so big man." Steve hung up the phone not needing to fill them in. Chin and Kono were already searching for information on this Abello character.

The team worked hard gathering information and formulating a plan to follow the shipment then storm the warehouse. They weren't sure what they were planning, but hopefully they could catch Abello and his gang in possession of the weapons, and stop their plans before they were set in motion.

Steve noticed Danny glance at his watch several times while they where planning. When Danny checked his watch twice in a five minute period, Steve decided to speak.

"You have somewhere to be, D?"

"Grace is having dinner at her friend's tonight but I'm supposed to collect her soon. I'll call her friend's parents and ask if she could stay later."

"No, don't do that. We're pretty much done here. Let's call it a night guys. Give Gracie a hug from me."

"Thanks, night guys." Danny bolted for the door, eager to collect his daughter.

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: thank you for sticking with me, your reward. How about some whump?**

 **Chapter Four**

A smile spread across Danny's face as he pulled up outside Grace's friends house and his daughter came running out. He was taken a little by surprise when she jumped into the car and threw her arms around him.

"Hey monkey, everything ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just glad to see you. We saw the news that a police officer had been shot. I knew you were ok 'cos Uncle Steve would have come and got me, plus they said it was an HPD officer. Was it someone we know?" Concern was written all over his daughter's face making Danny's stomach ache that she was growing up so fast.

"It was Pua Kai baby, but he's going to be fine and we caught the guys that did it."

"That's good." Grace remained quiet as he turned the car around and started to head home.

"Grace, Pua is going to be ok. I promise." Danny could tell his daughter was upset, but something else seemed to be playing on her mind.

"I believe you Danno. It's just ... It's just a reminder of how dangerous your job is. I know you are good at your job, and you wear vests, and do everything to keep yourselves safe."

"We do sweetheart. You know I will always do everything I can to stay safe and come home to you, don't you?" Grace was growing up and he couldn't gloss over it like he used to do when she was little, she could smell his bullshit a mile away now.

Grace just nodded.

"And don't forget Uncle Steve. That buffoon would take down anyone that tried to hurt a member of our Ohana. I think the guy today might have wet his pants just a little."

That finally made Grace giggle. "I'm proud of what you do, Danno. I'm proud of you."

Danny felt a lump jump straight to his throat. He threw her a quick smile unable to talk. Finally he found his voice and broke the silence, "I love you Grace."

"Love you too Danno."

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

The team were all in place. Chin and Kono were at the Dock and had just reported that the shipment had been collected as planned, and they were following a safe distance behind. Steve, Danny, and Lou were hidden from sight with a good view of the warehouse. From what they could see through the heat detection cameras there was five guys inside. Kono had informed them that four guys had shown up to collect the crate, so that brought their number of targets up to nine.

"Maybe we should call HPD for back up." Danny suggested.

"No, we've got this Danny. The shipment will be here any second. HPD won't make it in time." Steve decided.

"Ok, I'm just saying we are out numbered."

"Hasn't stopped us before." Steve shrugged. Danny looked to Lou to back him up, but before Lou could say anything a van pulled into the yard and the guys started to unload it.

Chin and Kono pulled up alongside the rest of the team and they watched the men move the goods inside. They wanted to corner all the men inside the building rather than risk any of them bolting. Steve was aware that Danny had disappeared back to the Camaro, but he was focused on the scene in front of him.

Danny returned and handed out extra ammo clips, which each team member gratefully accepted and stowed away in their vest pockets.

"If we're going in there out numbered I want us to be prepared."

"Ok, let's move." Steve ordered and the team worked their way silently to the warehouse. Splitting up like planned, Chin, Kono, and Lou headed to the back, while Steve and Danny headed to the front. Confirming everyone was in place Steve gave the order and they stormed into the building.

Gunfire erupted as the gang of men inside were taken by surprise and they scattered to avoid arrest. Chin easily took out the first guy that shot at him, his trusty shotgun making it look easy. Steve also managed to take out one of the gang before he and Danny were forced to take cover behind a large metal bin.

Bullets erupted around them. Danny risked a look around the bin and was able to see Chin and Lou taking cover behind another bin, while Kono was a few feet away. She had managed to take cover behind a stack of wooden pallets. They didn't provide much protection, but so far she had gone un-noticed by the seven remaining guys. Another spray of bullets forced him to retreat back behind the bin, but not before he saw Lou take out one of the guys who was attempting to climb a set of metal stairs to gain a better advantage.

A pause in fire saw Steve nodding to Danny. They popped up in tandem and fired towards the two guys that had them pinned down. Danny placed a perfect head shot and one guy went down while Steve hit the other in the shoulder. The guy flew backwards, his head slamming against the wall and rendering him unconscious. The odds were now in five-0's favour and Steve and Danny moved around to help out their trapped team members.

Three gun men were continually firing rounds off at Chin and Lou who were firing back just as many. Each team member was grateful for the extra clips Danny had handed out. Danny looked around, by his count there was one guy missing. Looking towards the crate that had just been delivered he saw Abello emerge, gun in hand. He was doing a good job at keeping himself covered, but Danny could see he had eyes on Kono behind her crate, and was heading towards her with deadly intent.

Danny was instantly on the move before Steve realised what was happening. He watched in confusion as Danny ran across the warehouse. He wasn't headed for Kono, he was headed towards the crate, in fact he was positioning himself between Kono and the crate and, oh shit, Steve thought as he saw the glint of a weapon and watched Danny raise his own. It happened in seconds and Steve was powerless to stop it. Danny fired his gun but as he was moving his aim wasn't as good. His bullet clipped Abello in the arm but he was still able to fire off three rounds, each found its way to Danny and he was thrown backwards to the floor.

Steve felt his blood go cold, his eyes were focused on his partner, who was lying still on the floor and he realised that Abello was most likely firing armour piercing rounds from the crate. Another shot snapped him back to his senses and he realised that Kono had stood from her hiding position and fired a kill shot. Abello lay feet away from Danny, blood pooling underneath him.

Steve was on his feet and moving, desperate to get to Danny who had yet to move. His heart was thumping in his chest. Danny had seen a danger he hadn't, and leapt into action to save the youngest team member. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chin and Lou gain the advantage over the final three guys, leaving the path clear for Steve to race to his partner's side. As he passed Kono he heard her desperate call for an ambulance, officer down.

 **TBC**

 **There you go. Hope it was worth waiting for.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Thanks for all the reviews, now let's see how bad Danny is.**

 **Chapter Five**

Steve reached Danny's side and thought for a second his heart was going to stop. Danny's eyes were wide open, staring, and empty. He could see the hole in his partner's vest, dead centre. The bullet hadn't been stopped by his vest, proving Steve's theory of amour piercing bullets being used. He knew it would have torn right through and hit Danny in the heart, killing him instantly.

Dropping to his knees beside his best friend he jumped when Danny suddenly gasped for air and arched his back off the floor.

"Danny, oh god, Danny, hold still." He started to release the straps on the vest, noting a second bullet hole to the right side of Danny's chest, and a third lower down on the same side.

Steve's hands were shaking as he ripped open the vest expecting to see his best friend's chest covered in blood. He wasn't sure how Danny was still alive but he was going to keep him that way until the EMT's arrived. He was not going to let his brother bleed out. Steve's breath caught as he let out a hysterical giggle then looked Danny in the eye.

"Two vests! You're wearing two vests?" Three shiny mushroomed bullets were imbedded in the second vest.

Danny coughed weakly and grabbed at his chest, struggling to get air in. Steve decided to hold off giving Danny shit for scaring him half to death, and focus on helping his friend.

Undoing the second vest released the pressure on Danny's chest and he was finally able to get some air into his lungs.

"Ambulance is two minutes out." Kono dropped down beside the two partners and ripped off her outer shirt ready to help stem the blood flow. Seeing no blood she asked, "What the hell?"

Danny was concentrating on breathing, his chest was burning, and every breath sent waves of pain rippling from his breastbone out, so Steve explained. "He had two vests on. The second vest stopped the bullets."

Chin and Lou marched the now cuffed suspects closer to the rest of the team, anxious to see how Danny was doing.

"Sit your arses down there now." Lou directed the men and stepped closer. "How's he doing?"

"He took three to the vest." Steve replied, opening Danny's shirt and wincing at the red welts that were already forming.

"I'm ok." Danny finally managed to get out. "Just hurts like a bitch."

"What the hell was that Daniel Williams?" Kono screamed, punching him in the upper arm.

"Ouch. What was...that for?" Danny was obviously in pain and Steve moved around to help raise his friend up a little to ease his breathing.

"What the hell were you thinking breaking cover like that?" Kono continued to yell.

"He was headed...right for you." Danny managed to explain before a coughing fit left him struggling to breathe again, and racked with pain.

"You shouldn't have done that Danny. Those bullets were meant for me."

"What?" Danny gasped confused at his teammate's anger. "You think I could...just let...you get shot?"

"You have Grace to think about Danny." Kono's anger was beginning to deflate.

"That doesn't mean I...I'm more important than you." Danny attempted to take a deeper breath but found it too painful.

"Ok, Kono enough. As someone who has personally taken a bullet to the vest, I know it hurts like hell. Danny just took three high power rounds to the chest. Just slow your breathing down Danny. The EMT's will be here soon." Chin instructed.

Steve was busy examining his partner with concern. The initial relief that the bullets hadn't made it through the vest was now being replaced by panic as Danny struggled to draw a breath. The bullets may have been stopped from entering Danny's body, but the impact could have caused some serious damage.

Danny closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing, only managing to take shallow, fast breaths as the pain in his chest refused to settle. Each team member couldn't help but notice the slightly blue tinge that had started to appear around Danny's lips, and were relieved when Ani and Jonah, the EMT's showed up.

Steve explained to them what had happened and they quickly set about examining Danny. Jonah started checking Danny's vitals while Ani carefully palpated his rib cage and abdomen, causing Danny to wince and groan.

Steve watched anxiously as Ani secured an oxygen mask over Danny's face to help improve his oxygenation. "Danny, I'm pretty sure you have some busted ribs. We need to take you in to be checked out and rule out any serious injuries."

Danny nodded in understanding, truth be told he was in a lot of pain. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and his ribs grating with every breath he took.

"Danny, your BP is on the low side. I'd like to start an IV then we can get moving." Jonah explained.

"Ok, but..." Danny paused and coughed.

"But what, Danny?" Ani asked while listening to the detective's chest.

"You got any of the good stuff you can throw in with that IV?"

"Sure we can do that." Ani reached into her bag and pulled out some morphine and handed it to Jonah who dumped it into the newly established IV he had just finished inserting.

Steve, who was still supporting Danny, felt his friend's body relax a little, "you good to move now Danny?"

"As I'll ever be," Danny sighed before slowly attempting to move with assistance onto the waiting gurney.

Grunts, groans and a few profanities filled the air as the rest of the team watched Steve help Danny. Once Steve was happy Danny was safely settled on the gurney he turned to the rest of the team.

"I'm gonna go with him, can you guys stay here and take care of this? See if you can find out what they were planning. Once Max and HPD arrive they can take care of everything so you can meet us at the hospital. Let those guys stew for a bit."

Lou turned and started hauling up their prisoners, informing the guy with a hole in his shoulder and a gash to the back of his head that he didn't give a rats arse about his booboo when he yelped in pain.

Safe in the knowledge that his team had everything under control Steve hurried to join his partner in the ambulance.

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Danny had kept his eyes closed, focusing on his breathing the whole time they were moving the gurney to the ambulance and securing it ready for the ride to the hospital. The morphine had helped him find the strength to move onto the gurney, but now the pain was increasing again. As the ambulance started to move and the sirens sprang into life Danny felt warmth flush through the IV and up his arm. The intense fire in his chest started to ease again making it easier to breathe.

Finally he was able to open his eyes. As expected Steve was sat on the seat by his side, however he was surprised to see Jonah riding in the back with him. Normally Ani drew the short straw on that one with her being the more senior of the two EMT's. Jonah was usually in charge of the driving.

"Thanks." Danny acknowledged the extra shot of painkillers. "Don't you usually do the driving?"

"She's letting me take the lead on this one." Jonah smiled, indicating towards Ani.

"He's growing up, got to take the training wheels off sometime." Ani joked.

"He's not as tight with the good stuff as you, I think I like him better." Danny bantered. Then as they hit a pothole, and the jolt caused his chest to burn, he added. "Changed my mind, I prefer him driving."

"Did I just get insulted, twice? Watch yourself Detective Williams or I may find a few more potholes."

Danny gave a small laugh then looked at Steve who had been very quiet since the whole thing went down. "Hey, babe. You've got aneurism face."

"Aneurism face? Danny, of course I have aneurism face. I just watched you be shot three times. I though you were dead. When did you put on the second vest? I didn't know you had two vests on. Jesus, Danny." Steve dropped his head into his hands.

"When I went back to the car."

"What?" Steve looked up at Danny.

"You asked when I put on the second vest." Danny paused and took a few breaths. "I went to get extra ammo, and saw the spare vest." Danny rubbed at his chest as it started to feel tight once more, and he wondered if Jonah had been too generous with the pain relief as he felt a little light headed. "I promised Grace I'd do everything I could to get home to her...she was worried, last night."

"That was good thinking. I should have made us all wear two." Steve had never been so relieved at Danny's cautiousness before, and he would have to remember to give Grace an extra big hug.

Jonah started fussing over Danny's vitals, frowning as the detective rubbed a hand over his abdomen. "Danny, does your abdomen hurt?"

"Yeah, but it's better since that last shot of the good stuff. I feel kind of dizzy though."

"He took a bullet low down in the vest." Steve informed the EMT.

Jonah carefully examined Danny's abdomen, apologising when his patient groaned at a tender spot. Rechecking Danny's vitals again he quickly grabbed the cardiac monitor leads and started connecting Danny up to the monitor.

"Ani, you might want to step on the gas, but I'm sure Danny would appreciate it if you at least tried to avoid the potholes." Jonah said calmly.

"Everything ok back there?" The senior EMT asked.

"Yeah I got it, I'm gonna start another line as his BP is bottoming out. We got blunt force trauma to the abdomen, as well as chest."

Steve felt the ambulance speed up and looked at Jonah for answers.

"I'm concerned his BP is dropping. He might have some internal bleeding."

Within minutes, Jonah had another IV established and had increased the oxygen flow. Danny's eyes had slipped closed to help combat the dizziness, and the rocking of the ambulance. Steve moved forward in his seat and placed his hand on Danny's leg. His heart was racing for the second time that hour. Danny had gone from being dead, to being ok but in pain, to now being in trouble again. Steve felt like he was on an emotional roller coaster, one that he was more than ready to get off of.

 **TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: glad you liked the two vest thing, very lethal weapon eh? Apologies for not having the time to reply to reviews individually but please know I do really appreciate each and every one of them.**

 **Chapter Six**

"I thought you guys were going to be careful?" Dr. Pearce scolded as they unloaded Danny from the ambulance.

"I was. I wore two vests." Danny replied. His voice was muffled by the oxygen mask, but Steve couldn't help but be relieved at the snarky comment. The extra fluids had helped to stabilise Danny and he was feeling a little better.

"That was one of my favourite shirts." Danny complained as a nurse cut it away rather than cause him pain trying to remove it. Dr. Pearce then moved in to examine Danny's chest and abdomen. She started on his sternum where a visible bruise was forming. She then listened to Danny's heart with her stethoscope.

"Can we set up for chest and abdo films, and I want a full set of bloods. I want to rule out a cardiac tamponade." Dr. Pearce ordered.

"A what?" Steve asked concerned.

"It's ok, I don't think he has one but I know Danny's flair for the dramatic, I want to rule it out, the impact over the heart could have caused blood to collect around his heart." Running her hand down Danny's chest she carefully pushed on his ribs where the second bullet had impacted. Danny looked about ready to pass out once she was done and moved on to the abdomen. "Cynthia, call CT, I want chest and abdo scans."

The next thing Steve knew he was being ushered out of the room to wait in the waiting room as the X-Ray machine was wheeled in. Danny managed to catch Steve's eye before he left, words weren't exchanged, but Steve knew Danny was trying to tell him, he was ok.

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"Steve?" The Commander looked up as he heard his name called out and saw his team walking toward him. Kono looked anxious. "How is he?"

"They've taken him to CT to check for internal damage, and have done X-Rays. He wasn't doing so good in the ambulance, but he picked up with more fluids. Doc was worried about damage around his heart, and Jonah was concerned about bleeding in his abdomen."

"Oh man." Lou sat down in the chair opposite Steve, Chin and Kono followed suit.

"He shouldn't have done it." Kono was shaking her head.

"He knew he was wearing two vests, Kono. He knew the odds were better for him than you." Steve explained, although he knew Danny would have done the same even if he hadn't been wearing a vest at all.

"He shouldn't have taken the risk. What about Grace?"

"Now stop that." Lou said abruptly. "Just because Danny and I have kids, doesn't mean we should hold back. That we are more important than you guys. Answer me this, would you take a bullet for us?"

"Of course I would." Kono replied, tears threatening to spill.

"I know you would. We all would for each other. We're a team. We watch each other's back. That doesn't change because we have kids. Danny and I know the dangers of the job. We accept them and take the risk. There was no way Danny was going to stand by and watch you be killed."

"I'm very grateful that he didn't." Chin placed his hand on his cousin's shoulder. "He'll be fine. He's in good hands."

"What did you find at the warehouse, any idea what they were planning?" Steve was keen to find out what this was all about, and to distract them all from waiting to hear how badly injured Danny was.

"We found plans for what looked like an attempt at a jail break." Lou declared.

"Jail break? Seriously?" Steve was shocked.

"They had all the details on the transport vehicles, and the vests the guards wear." Chin explained.

"The route from Halawa to the airport was mapped out, and places for ambush highlighted." Kono added.

"So they were planning on busting someone out when they were being moved?"

"Sure looks like it." Chin stated.

"Do we know who?"

"Not yet. We've contacted Halawa and they are sending us a list of all prisoners due to be moved in the next month." Kono answered.

"As soon as we hear news on Danny we'll head to the Palace and start running the names on the list." Lou stated.

"Then my timing is perfect." Dr. Pearce suddenly joined the group.

"Dr. Pearce, how is he?" Kono was probably the most anxious for news.

"He's stable, but he is going to need closely monitoring for a few days." Dr. Pearce sat down alongside the team. "He was so lucky to be wearing two vests. Each one of those shots could have been kill shots."

The reality left the team quiet, waiting for more information. "The first shot was to the centre of his chest. I'm afraid the impact has fractured his sternum. Fortunately it's a stable fracture, but it does resemble a spider web on the X-Ray, fracturing out from the point of impact. He is going to have a lot of pain there until it heals."

"What about his heart? What did the tests show?" Steve asked.

"So far, so good. There is no sign of damage and the EKG is good." That gained smiles from the team. "The second bullet hit his chest off to the right. I'm afraid he has broken two ribs, but my main concern is there's evidence of a pulmonary contusion on the scan."

"What does that mean?" Kono was starting to get scared again.

"His lung is bruised. So far he is holding his oxygen levels with just basic oxygen support. The concern is that the bruising could develop further, and his breathing could decline."

"Is that likely?" Steve wanted to have all the facts.

"I would expect it to worsen, but how bad I don't know." Dr. Pearce answered honestly.

"What about his abdomen? Steve said Jonah was worried about abdominal bleeding." Chin asked.

"He was right to be. He also has a liver contusion, with a small laceration."

"Does he need surgery?" Lou frowned.

"Actually, no. At the moment it is Grade 3. The best course of action is to observe for now. All his injuries will mean he needs to be closely monitored for at least the next 48 hours. He's being settled into a room on the Critical Care Unit. We will be able to monitor him closely there, but the visiting rules aren't as strict so you'll all be able to see him.

"What about Grace? Can she see him too? She's at school at the moment but she'll want to see her dad." Steve asked and was already mentally making plans to collect Grace from school.

"Yes she can see him too, but perhaps not for too long. Danny is in a lot of pain at the moment and needs to rest. I don't want him getting too excited. Any elevation in blood pressure could cause the contusions to worsen." Seeing the team agree, she continued, "I have started him on a patient controlled analgesia pump which has a continuous back ground infusion going too. He'll stay on that for the remainder of his stay in the CCU, and then we can start dialling it back and switch him to oral meds. Hopefully, if he behaves himself and the contusions don't worsen, I'll be able to send him home by the weekend. But he is going to be on restricted activities for the next few weeks."

"Thanks doc. Don't worry. We'll make sure he rests." Steve reassured her.

Dr. Pearce then got up and left, informing them that a nurse would come get them once Danny was settled.

"Well it could have been worse news." Chin wanted to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, we just need to make sure he rests and doesn't overdo things." Lou agreed.

Steve sighed and started to formulate a plan, "ok, can you guys go back to the Palace and look into that list? I want to know if there is still a threat. Interview the guys from the bust. See what you can get out of them. I'm going to go collect Grace from school before she hears anything on the news about another officer shooting. Danny said she was worried last night, and that was the reason he put on the extra vest."

"Will they let you collect her?" Lou knew all the paperwork he had to fill out for his kids approved people.

"Yeah, Danny has us all down on his list." Steve replied, Lou thought it was probably a good idea if he added the team to his kids too.

"Is Rachel on the island at the moment?" Chin was also wondering what care provisions they needed to make for the young girl they all regarded as a niece.

"No, she's in Vegas at the moment. She's going to need to stay with one of us."

"I'll stay with her at Danny's." Kono offered. "That way Steve can stay with Danny, and Grace will feel better being at home."

"Thanks Kono." Steve knew that Kono would feel better if she could help take care of Grace. "Ok, let's head out. I'm gonna let the nurses know I'm going to get Grace while they get Danny sorted."

"The Camaro is parked outside. We'll be back later with information, and to collect Grace." Chin passed Steve the car keys.

Plan made, and relieved that Danny was out of immediate danger, they headed off to complete their tasks.

 **TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: lots of Grace in this chapter.**

 **Chapter Seven**

Grace walked down the hall to the headmistress's office. She had been called out of her English lesson, and she was racking her brains to think what she could have done to get into trouble. She certainly hadn't punched anyone again. Her grades were good, so why did the headmistress want to see her. Arriving at the office, Mrs. Turk, the secretary looked up from the computer.

"Go straight in Grace." Grace saw the look of sympathy on her face and knew she was in big trouble.

Tapping on the door she turned the handle, stepped inside the room, and froze in the doorway when she saw her Uncle Steve. It wasn't the first time her uncle had collected her from school, in fact the whole team on occasion had collected her, usually when her Danno was caught up in a case, or stuck in court, but she had never been pulled out of a lesson before. Instantly she knew it wasn't good news.

"Uncle Steve, is Danno ok?"

"Hey, Gracie." Steve walked over and pulled her into a hug which only escalated her panic, and she pushed him away.

"No. No please don't say it. He's not dead."

"No Grace, God I'm sorry if I scared you." Steve quickly pulled her back into another hug. "Danny's ok. I mean, he's been hurt, but he's at the hospital and I came to take you to see him."

Grace pulled away again and looked her uncle in the eye. "What happened?"

Steve knew Danny was always honest with his daughter so he resolved himself to fill her in completely. "We went after the guys who had the guns that were used to hurt Pua Kia."

"He was shot?" Tears filled the eyes of the young girl on the verge of her teenage years.

"Kind of, the bullets hit your dad's vest. He's bruised, and has some broken ribs, so he's going to need to stay in hospital for a few days." Steve explained.

"He didn't need to stay in hospital the last time he broke his rib." Graces pointed out, she wasn't stupid. She knew Steve was holding back.

"The force of the bullets bruised your dad's lung and liver. The doctors need to watch him to make sure there isn't any further bleeding. Also, so they can keep on top of his pain as his injuries are really painful."

"Can I see him?" Grace was desperate to be reunited with her father.

"Of course, I said I was here to take you to him. They were just getting him settled so I ducked out to collect you. I know you will be the best medicine for him."

"Ok." Grace looked at her headmistress.

"Its fine Grace, you can go with Commander McGarrett. I'll let your teachers know what has happened. I hope your father recovers quickly."

Steve nodded his thanks. He'd already fully filled her in on the seriousness of Danny's condition, and assured her the team would take care of Grace in the absence of her mother.

Steve steered his niece out of the office to the car, reassuring her that her dad would be ok, and telling her that they would ring her mom together on the way back to the hospital.

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"Well I don't think we need to work too hard on this list." Chin exited his office after retrieving the list Halawa had sent over.

"Really? Is there a name on there that stands out?" Lou was intrigued.

"Just one, Eduardo Abello, scheduled for transfer in two weeks. How much are you betting our Carlos Abello is related?"

Kono brought up information on the smart screen about Eduardo Abello. "Says here he's the youngest of three brothers, Carlos is the middle brother the older brother is Roberto."

"So we could have another brother still out there." Lou sighed.

"Only one way to find out, let's go speak to our guests." Chin led the way as the three made plans to take a suspect each, and get the information they needed.

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Steve and Grace entered the CCU and headed for the nurses station. A nursing assistant pointed them in the direction of Danny's room and told them he had been sleeping comfortably for the last half hour.

As they reached the door Steve saw Grace pause a little, "you ok Grace?"

Grace looked a little nervous then nodded and stepped into the room. Steve was relieved, for Graces sake and his own, that Danny didn't look too bad. Sleeping at a 45 degree angle, no doubt to help ease his breathing and the pressure on his ribs and sternum, Danny did indeed seem comfortable. A heart monitor and blood pressure cuff were in place. A bulky, grey clip sat on his left ring finger, constantly monitoring his oxygen levels, and a standard oxygen mask covered his face. The two IV's that Jonah had placed were still there, a bag of fluids running through one and the other was connected to a patient controlled analgesia pump.

Steve was also grateful that Danny was wearing a hospital gown. The flimsy white material with blue diamonds was hiding the intense bruising on his friend's chest. No way would Danny want Grace to see the damage done by the bullets.

Grace moved closer to her father and Steve could see her eyes roaming every inch of his body. Satisfied that her dad seemed to be ok she stepped up to the bed and gently took hold of his right hand. Danny seemed to instantly sense his daughter's presence and opened sleepy eyes. Grace's eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. "Hey Danno."

"Hey monkey." Danny's voice sounded rough. Looking at Steve he nodded his thanks then seemed to realise where he was, and that Grace needed to be taken care of. Suddenly he attempted to sit up, pain flashing across his face as he did so. Steve jumped into action, forcing Danny's shoulders back down onto the mattress.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Just take it easy, you need to rest."

"Can't, Rachel is off...the island. I have to go home...take care of Grace." Danny hadn't let go of his daughter's hand.

"Relax ok. We're gonna take care of her. Kono is going to stay at your house tonight and look after Grace. Rachel is trying to sort a flight back to the island. You are going no where, now stop worrying your daughter will you."

Danny visibly deflated so Steve let go of his shoulders and made sure the oxygen mask was in the right place. Danny's eyes were glassy from the pain relief.

"It's ok, Danno. Auntie Kono and I will have fun. We can watch a girly film and eat ice cream. I just want you to rest and get better."

Danny gave his daughter a lopsided grin. "I'm sorry I scared you baby. Sorry I got hurt. I know we talked about this last night."

"It's ok Danno. Uncle Steve told me what happened on the way over. I'm glad you saved Auntie Kono, but I'm really glad you were clever enough to put on another vest."

"Me, too baby." Danny grimaced as a cough jarred his chest and left him feeling breathless. Steve, seeing how much pain his friend was in, pressing the pain pump he knew Danny was avoiding using in Grace's presence.

"That stuff makes me loopy." Danny complained.

"I'll take loopy Danny, over in pain Danny, anytime bud."

"Remember you said that if I start singing Bonjovi?" There was no danger of that though as his eyes grew heavy and his breathing started to ease.

"Get some rest, Danny. Grace and I will hang out here until Kono comes to collect her." Steve ordered as he watched his friend battle to keep his eyes open.

"Mmmm..." Danny agreed, finally closing his eyes. Steve could see that Danny's breathing was still laboured, the numbers on the monitors showed that his blood pressure was still on the low side, and his heart rate elevated. Dr. Pearce's words echoed in his ears, the warning that the contusions could worsen over time. As much as he knew father and daughter needed to see each other, he hoped Danny remained stable throughout Grace's visit.

 **TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: time to update the team and some Kono/grace time.**

 **Chapter Eight**

Danny was still sleeping, semi peacefully, when the rest of the team arrived. Beckoning Steve from the room they waited until he checked that Grace was ok and stepped out.

"How's Danny?" Kono asked.

"He's stable. Vitals are a little off but the medical team seems happy with him. He's pretty drugged up though. What did you guys find out?" Steve wanted to be brought up to speed.

"Carlos Abello and the rest of his crew in the warehouse where planning a jail break like we thought. They were planning on breaking out his younger brother, Eduardo." Chin started off.

"We leaned on our guests pretty hard and managed to break them. They gave up a name of one of the guards at Halawa that gave them the information they needed. The route the van took. How many guards," Lou explained. "They've been mapping out the route, planning their ambush."

"HPD is picking up that guard now, and Eduardo Abello has been moved into max security with no contact with anyone." Kono added, and Steve nodded his approval.

"We also managed to get the name of the weapon supplier. We've spoken with L.A.'s ATF. They are already planning a raid." Chin continued.

"That's great work guys. Those two idiot druggies didn't have a clue what they had stumbled across. All thanks to Pua too. We need to make sure he gets credit, if he hadn't pulled them over…" Steve didn't want to think about how many lives could have been lost.

"We may still have one problem." Kono stated, and Steve's brow furrowed in concern.

"There is a third Abello brother, the oldest of the three, Roberto. We have him flying to the island along with Carlos. He was in on the plan too, but he is nowhere to be found." Chin explained.

"He was supposed to meet the other dummies at the warehouse, but they said he hadn't arrived yet." Lou finished off.

"Shit. We moved too soon, let him get away." Steve sighed. Maybe if they had called for back up like Danny wanted, and waited a little longer, they would have caught the whole crew.

"He is already on the no fly list, and his picture has gone out to all the ports. HPD have been briefed." Kono wanted the team to remain positive, despite this one loss they had still come out on top that day.

"There isn't really much more we can do for now until he surfaces. So we thought Kono could take Grace home, and Lou and I will write up the reports, leaving you free to take care of Danny."

"Thanks guys. That means a lot. Danny was worried about Grace, but settled once he knew Kono was going to look after her. Grace already has a film and ice cream night planned." Kono smiled, relieved that she could do something to help Danny given she felt responsible for his injuries.

The team then returned to the room, greeting Grace, and relieved to see Danny resting. They stayed a short time during which Danny woke and made short conversation, but it was obvious that he was in a lot of pain from his fractured sternum. Grace tenderly kissed her father goodnight, and the team filtered out of the hospital room, leaving only Steve behind to keep Danny, company.

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Kono had elected to collect takeout pizza on the way home for both her and Grace. She had smiled to herself when Grace had stated that there was no way she was having pineapple on her pizza. She really was a chip of the old block, a mini Danny, but less grumpy. They arrived at Danny's, and Grace set about fetching plates and drinks, while Kono chose a film for them to both watch. She settled on The Notebook, knowing it was one of Graces favourites as Danny had bought it for her after they'd watched it at Steve's house with Catherine.

They watched the film, sat close together on Danny's old, yet extremely comfy couch, and ate in silence. Kono wasn't paying much attention to the film, instead her eyes settled on the girl she thought of as a niece. Grace had come so close to losing her father today. Despite what the team said she couldn't help feel partly responsible for that. If she had found better cover she wouldn't have been a sitting duck, an obvious target. If she had seen Abello advancing on her sooner, Danny wouldn't have put himself in the firing line.

"Auntie Kono. Are you ok?" Grace really was a perceptive child.

"I'm ok Gracie, just thinking about how brave your dad was today. I'm so sorry he got hurt."

"It wasn't your fault you know. Danno loves you, you're Ohana, and he always looks after his Ohana."

Kono's eyes teared up instantly. She didn't realise Grace knew what happened then again she should have realised that her niece was growing up, and was much wiser to the world.

"Danno promised me he would do everything he could to stay safe and he did. I know you all have a dangerous job, but you keep us all safe. Danno will be ok, and you can help me nurse him better if you like."

"I think I'd like that Grace. Thank you sweetheart, you've made me feel a lot better. Now where does your dad keep the ice cream? And I know he keeps a stash of chocolate somewhere. He thinks I don't know about his stash in his office filing cabinet."

Grace smiled. "He keeps it on the top of the cupboard. He thinks I don't know about it too."

Kono jumped up and headed into the kitchen to raid her friend's not so secret stash.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Roberto Abello sat on the bed of the grimy motel room he had paid cash for and rented with a false name. He flipped through the news channels hoping to find out what had happened to his brother and the rest of their crew. He had been running late to meet them at the warehouse, due to an accident on the highway that held him up. By the time he arrived, HPD was swarming the place so he continued driving and parked at the very same spot where unbeknown to him, 5-0 had previously spied on his crew. Using the same cover they had, he watched as several body bags where lined up, and the guns they had been waiting on were inventoried and placed into evidence bags.

Unsure how anybody had cottoned on to their plan, he was unsure of his brother's fate. He didn't dare return to their rented beach front apartment, or use his credit cards in case they tracked him. So instead he had found the cheapest motel he could and settled in, in only the clothes he wore, anxiously hoping that a news report on the small TV, provided with the room, would give him even a little bit of news.

Finally his patience was rewarded when the news anchor, a grey haired gentleman with a receding hairline announced a new story. "Tonight's main story. Following arrests made in the HPD officer shooting yesterday, 5-0 conducted a raid today and seized a shipment of guns and bullets designed to pierce armour. Sources have revealed that plans were being put in place to attempt a jailbreak of Eduardo Abello, who is imprisoned in Halawa for murder. During the raid several members of the crew were killed in a serious shoot out. One of which was Abello's brother Carlos. Unfortunately the raid didn't go without casualties on 5-0's side, Detective Daniel Williams, second in command of 5-0 was seriously injured. We have been informed that he is in serious, but stable, condition in Queens Hospital in the Critical Care Unit."

Roberto launched the TV remote across the room. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces, "No, no, no, no, no." unable to accept that his brother was dead. Carlos had been killed by a member of 5-0. Anger coursed through his veins, fuelled by his grief. His brother had been cruelly taken from him, and his youngest brother was destined to rot in prison now. all because of this elite team that policed the island. Well he would show them what grief was. He wanted them to feel the pain he was feeling right now. He didn't know which member of 5-0 had killed his brother, but he knew where he could find one member of the team. The second in command of the team was good enough for him. He would exact his revenge, and he would do it tonight then attempt to make his get away. He would work out another way to free his little brother while leaving the 5-0 team to mourn the loss of one of their own.

 **TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: Thanks for all the support and reviews. Time for some action now I think.**

 **Chapter Nine**

Steve was becoming restless. He felt frustrated watching Danny in so much pain. While his heart rate and blood pressure had remained stable, he was beginning to find it harder to breathe. Dr. Pearce had been back to review him and repeated a chest X-Ray which had shown the contusion had grown, as she feared. But fortunately it wasn't too bad, and she had only increased his oxygen vowing to return later to review him again.

Danny shifted a little in bed, and seeing Steve wound up so tight, he pulled down the oxygen mask so he could be heard better, "why don't you go home?.. I'm ok."

"What? No, I'm staying the night. I'm fine."

"You could go help Kono with Grace." Danny could feel Steve's tension, and he felt guilty that he was the cause of it.

"Kono has Grace covered. I'm staying at the hospital." Steve folded his arms across his chest almost daring Danny to say otherwise.

"Ok. Fine, but why don't you go stretch your legs for a bit." Danny took a few deep breaths through the oxygen mask then lowered it again, "you could go see how Pua is doing. I know it's getting late, but I'm sure he would appreciate a visit."

Steve seemed to think it over for a second then agreed. "Ok, I'll run up and check in with him. You put the oxygen back on though, and don't misbehave while I'm gone."

"I promise." Danny retuned the mask to its correct position and sighed with relief as Steve finally left the room. Hopefully the quick stretch of his legs, and change of environment, would relax his partner a little. Feeling the ache in his chest increase Danny hit the button on the pain pump and immediately started to feel its effects.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Roberto Abello slipped into the hospital unnoticed. A well timed bump into a doctor relieved the man of his security card and gained him access into the staff changing room. Rifling through the shelves he found a set of scrubs, and quickly changed into them. A scrub cap and white lab coat completed his look. Hiding his gun under the lab coat he exited the changing room, and keeping his head down he looked for signs to point him in the direction of the Critical Care Unit.

Exiting the elevator he headed straight forward towards the doors to the unit. Using the security pass once more he smiled to himself as the doors gave a click and were released from their magnetic hold. Opening the doors he had to quickly side step as a tall, dark haired, muscular, tattooed man hurried past him, bumping his shoulder and almost revealing the gun.

"Sorry doc." The dark haired man apologised.

Roberto's eyes were drawn to the gold badge on the man's waist, and his heart raced. He wanted to pull the gun right there and then, but his brain took charge and told him he would have a better chance of escape going after the weaker member of 5-0. "No problem." He replied relieved that the man obviously didn't know who he was.

As the dark haired man made his way towards the stairs he continued on to the nursing station. Suddenly realising he didn't know what room the detective was in, he looked around and was relieved to see a white board with names written against room numbers. Skimming down the names his eyes stopped on the name he desired, and he cautiously made his way to the correct room.

Once inside he shut the door behind himself and stared at the man in the bed. Excitement flailed inside him, this was it, he was about to get his revenge for his brother's death. The blonde detective must have sensed his presence because he opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Did Dr. Pearce finally go home?"

Roberto pulled his gun out from the lab coat and pointed it straight at the man in the bed, who instantly pulled off his oxygen mask and looked him in the eye. "What the hell?"

"Was it you? Did you do it?" His hand was shaking with adrenaline now.

"What? What do you mean?" Danny asked confused.

The door to the room suddenly burst open and Dr. Pearce ran in and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the man holding a gun on her friend. She had been returning to check in on Danny when she was alerted to a spike in his heart rate on the monitor at the nurse's station. All the nurses were busy attending to another patient, so she had rushed to check on her patient alone.

"Get in and shut the door." The gun had swung to point right at Dr. Pearce, and she immediately did as ordered.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Detective Williams is very sick."

"I'll be putting him out of his misery then." The gun swung back in Danny's direction. "Did you kill him? My brother, was it you?"

"Who the hell are you?" Danny asked, grateful that the gun was no longer pointed at his friend. He didn't want Andrea caught up in whatever this mess was. What a great time for him to send Steve away.

"I'm Roberto Abello."

"Oh." Danny replied now understanding why the man was so pissed at him. "Look, let the doctor go. She has nothing to do with this."

"So she can go for help. No, I don't think so. She can watch as I put a bullet in your head. Then she will be my perfect hostage to get out of here. Maybe I can even trade her for my brother's freedom."

"I thought we killed your brother." Danny spat, knowing it would anger the man but not caring. He really wished the team had brought him up to speed, too. His head was spinning with all this new information.

"You killed Carlos. I want my brother Eduardo. Your team killed my brother. I'm going to make them pay. They will know what it feels like to lose a loved one when I blow you away." Roberto was sweating heavily now, his hand shaking so much Danny thought the gun might fire any second.

"I won't go with you." Dr. Pearce's voice showed that she was scared but she was determined to stay strong. "Kill him and there is no way I will go with you, but if you leave now I will go with you as a hostage. You can trade me for your brother."

"Andrea, no," There was no way Danny could let her leave with this crazed man.

"No. He has to die. I want them to suffer like I'm suffering. To feel the pain, what are you doing?" Roberto screamed as he saw Dr. Pearce's hand reach for the nurse control in an attempt to signal for help.

Danny was fuelled by adrenaline now, and with the painkiller in his system he seized his moment. Roberto was losing control, the gun flicking between himself and Dr. Pearce in a rage. Danny saw the moment when Roberto decided he was going out shooting, and his finger started to pull the trigger, the gun still pointed at the doctor. He leapt out of bed, ripping both IV's out of his arm, and wires off his chest, instantly causing the monitors to scream. Danny lunged at the gun hand and pushed it up as a shot rang out across the room. His momentum kept them going, and Danny knocked Roberto off his feet and they both fell to the floor. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his good friend Dr. Andrea Pearce drop to the floor, but he had no time to see how badly injured she was, or even if she was still alive as he was locked in a battle with Roberto for the gun, desperately hoping that Steve hadn't gone too far away.

 **TBC**

 **more Tom, have a good day.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Note: oh dear I'm in trouble for whumping Dr. Pearce. Early update as I'm off to work.**

 **Chapter Ten**

The force of Danny's body hitting the floor sent a shock wave of pain across his chest and abdomen, yet he refused to let go of the gun hand. Roberto was temporarily stunned by the sudden impact, his right hand above his head, gun tightly gripped and Danny's hand wrapped around his wrist.

His senses returning he quickly gained the upper hand on Danny who was shaking from the adrenaline burst. Danny knew he needed to eliminate the gun as soon as possible as his strength was quickly waning, so he focused on slamming Roberto's hand into the floor over and over again. On the fourth slam the gun skidded out of the enraged man's hand and slid under a cabinet out of reach.

Roberto decided he didn't need the gun, and quickly flipped over so he could pounce on top of Danny. His knee embedded in Danny's abdomen, the full force of his weight pinned the detective to the floor. His large hands wrapped around Danny's throat and began to squeeze. Danny attempted to struggle free, his hands trying to pry the vice like grip away from his throat. Blood ran down his arm from the IV sites, and a blinding pain tore through his abdomen. There was a fire in his lungs as he attempted to suck in breath after breath as his windpipe was constricted, and black dots started to dance around the edges of his vision.

All energy completely spent, his hands collapsed helplessly to the floor and his eyes rolled back into his head.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve's trip to see Pua had been very brief. Arriving at the young officer's room he found him sleeping, and he didn't want to disturb him. A quick conversation with the nurse informed him that Pua was set to be discharged in the morning. Feeling relieved that things were going well for the officer he returned to the Critical Care Unit feeling better after the short trip. As he was buzzed into the unit he flinched as he heard the crack of a gunshot. Nurses screamed at the sudden explosion of noise and ducked for cover as Steve raced towards the sound. He knew it had come from his partner's room. The door was closed, meaning Steve was about to enter the unknown, but his partner was in danger so he didn't care. Gun drawn he stormed the room, just in time to see Dr. Pearce bring down the wooden chair he had been sat on for the best part of the evening over a curly, dark haired man head, who was almost straddling his partner.

The man slumped over, unconscious, landing on top of Danny and crushing him. Steve was quick to holster his gun, race past the female doctor, and drag the man off his friend. Pulling out zip ties from one of his many pockets on his cargo pants, he restrained the unconscious man so he could pose no further danger. Seeing the man's face he recognised him as the supposed doctor he had passed in the hall. Looking the man full in the face the family resemblance to Carlos Abello was obvious, and Steve was hit with a wave of guilt for leaving his partner so vulnerable.

Dr. Pearce had dropped to Danny's side and was examining him, knowing Danny was in good hands he grabbed hold of the man and dragged him from the room as Security guards stormed into the unit. Steve ordered them to call HPD and the rest of his team.

Steve then returned to his friend's room just in time to see Dr, Pearce forcing a plastic tube down Danny's throat. Two nurses had joined her, once the scene was cleared, and they were desperately working to reinsert IV's to stabilise the fallen detective.

"Somebody page Dr. Yokes, 911. His abdomen is distended. He's going to need surgery, and I can't do it." Dr. Pearce called out.

Steve was confused. When it came to the team Dr. Pearce was usually very protective, and was the first to step in when they needed medical attention. He couldn't understand why she was requesting another doctor, until he tore his eyes away from Danny and his already purpling neck, and looked at the doctor who was busy saving his friend's life.

Red blood stained the left side of her lab coat around her shoulder, and was growing by the second. Steve wasn't the only one who seemed to just notice this, as one of the nurses suddenly let out a shocked gasp then grabbed a handful of gauze and started pressing it either side of the wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding.

Steve was amazed at her resilience. Despite being seriously shaken, and injured, she had ignored her own needs to tend to Danny. Finding him making practically no respiratory effort she had quickly intubated him. His already badly bruised lungs were clearly struggling, and the bruising around his throat worried her.

Steve wasn't able to do much other than watch as a gurney was rushed into the room and Danny was scooped up onto it and rushed out of the room. A Chinese doctor that Steve recognised as Dr. Yokes joined them in the hall, along with another male doctor who was much older with grey hair. This doctor made a beeline for Dr. Pearce who was attempting to follow after the gurney, and a short argument ensued. Dr. Pearce clearly lost the argument as a nurse came up behind her with a wheelchair and she was forced to sit before being whisked away.

Steve turned and looked for the security guards he had left Roberto Abello with. Spotting one of them he rushed towards him. "Where is he? Are my team on the way?"

"We moved him to an exam room. A doctor is looking him over now. Looks like Dr. Pearce gave him a great concussion. Good on her."

"Is he secure?" There was no way Steve was going to let this guy escape.

"Yes Commander. We have him in restraints, and two other guards are with him. HPD are on their way, and they have contacted your team."

"That's great. Thanks. Now I need you to stand guard over that room. It's a crime scene, now. HPD will take over once they get here." Steve pulled out his phone as it started vibrating.

"Steve, what the hell is going on? HPD just called and said Abello tried to kill Danny." Chin was obviously desperate for answers.

"Yeah, he did. I don't really know what happened. I left him to go check in on Pua." Steve attempted to explain.

"Is Danny ok?"

"No. They rushed him to surgery. There was a struggle, and his liver started bleeding. Abello tried to strangle him, he wasn't breathing for himself."

"Shit Steve." was all that Chin could manage. "Lou and I are on our way, we'll be there in ten minutes. What happened with Abello?"

"He's under guard, and nursing a concussion."

"Argh, he learned not to cross McGarrett." Lou said, and Steve realised he was on speaker phone, both men were obviously anxious to find out what happened.

"Not me. Dr. Pearce. She smashed a chair over his head."

"Good girl." Lou cheered.

"She was shot through the shoulder. I don't know how bad it is."

"Crap." Both men said simultaneously.

"Guys, I'm headed to the surgical waiting room, meet me there." Steve instructed.

"Shall we call Kono?" Chin wondered.

"No, not yet, it's late now. Grace will be asleep. Let's wait until we have news on Danny first."

"Ok we'll be with you soon." Chin said then hung up.

Steve put his phone away and headed to the waiting room. True to their word his friends arrived soon after and they all settled in for the wait, desperately hoping for good news.

 **TBC**


	11. Chapter 11

**Note: A big thanks to the guest reviews, sorry I can't reply to you personally.**

 **Now let's find out what damage had been done to our heroes.**

 **Chapter Eleven**

"Do you mind if I join you?" A soft voice came from the doorway. Looking up the three men saw Dr. Pearce standing there. She was wearing a blue pair of scrubs, her clothes obviously ruined, and her left arm was in a blue material sling.

Steve immediately jumped up and guided her to one of the more comfortable chairs in the waiting room. "Of course not, how are you doing doc?"

"I'm fine." She patted Steve on the knee to reassure him what she was saying was true. "Shaken and sore, but Dr. Plyth, the head of the hospital, insisted on taking care of me. The bullet went clean through and didn't hit anything major. I got really lucky. A few weeks in a sling and I'll be good as knew, thanks to Danny." Tears started to well in the doctor's eyes.

"Do you feel up to telling us what happened?" Chin gently asked.

"It all happened so fast, really. I came back to check on Danny as I was worried about his lung contusion getting worse. His heart monitor was alarming on the nurse's desk, so I rushed into his room. There was that man stood over him, dressed as a doctor." Taking a few seconds to steady her nerve, she then continued. "He said he was going to kill Danny to make you all feel the pain he was feeling from losing his brother. He wanted to take me as a hostage to negotiate his way out, and free his other brother. I said I would go if he didn't kill Danny, but Danny refused to let me go."

"There was no way Danny would let you take that Noterisk." Steve stated.

"Anyway, the man got upset. He was shaking and distracted so I tried to use the nurse call button to get help, but he saw. He got really mad and pointed the gun straight at...at me." Steve put a protective arm around the doctor, seeing how upset she was becoming. She obviously felt partly responsible for Danny's situation, maybe if she hadn't tried to call for help things would have turned out differently.

"Andrea, none of this is your fault. You did really well in there. Danny is going to be so proud of you for slamming that chair over Abello's head. He went down like a sack of potatoes." Steve chose to use the doctor's first name, which he rarely did. Only Danny called her by her first name, but he wanted to comfort his shaken friend.

"Danny was amazing, despite his already serious injuries, he grabbed the gun and forced it away. If he hadn't have done that I'd have been hit in the chest for sure. He managed to get rid of the gun, but that man was too strong for him, and I could see he was having trouble breathing already. When he grabbed him by the throat I had to do something, had to help Danny."

"You sure did that. You must be Wonder Woman or something, a hole in your shoulder and you still manage to knock the man clean out. You go sister." Lou joked, and finally Dr. Pearce broke a small smile.

"Is...is he still here?"

"He's been transferred to a secure hospital wing. He needs monitoring for the concussion, but don't worry. He doesn't pose a threat to anyone else, and we will make sure he goes down for a very long time." Chin explained.

"In a separate prison to his brother, there's no way those two are going to be reunited, I'll see to that." Steve added.

Dr. Pearce nodded then seemed to remember herself. "I managed to get a brief update on Danny before I came here. His liver contusion had indeed worsened, so they are working on stopping the bleeding now. The bruising to his neck appears to be just that, no major damage. They are concerned about his lungs though, it looks like Danny has developed ARDS. I think it's unlikely they will be able to get him off the vent straight away. He's going to need a little help until the contusions start to recede."

"But he's going to be ok?" Steve didn't like the sound of how ill his friend was.

"If they can control the liver bleeding and there are no other complications. Given time, he should bounce back." Dr. Peace explained.

"Of course he will, Danny's tough, he always does." Steve smiled.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Two hours later Dr. Yokes arrived to fill them in, having settled Danny into the ICU. Enquiring after his colleague's health he got straight down to business. "Danny is currently doing as well as can be expected. I was able to stop the bleeding from his liver, he will be sore for a while, but he should make a full recovery. Unfortunately it's his chest that is causing us concern. As you know he already had a fractured sternum and ribs, and a lung contusion that was worsening. I'm afraid the wrestle to the ground worsened the contusion, and Danny has developed ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome. At the moment his lungs are extremely inflamed and weak, leaving him dependant on mechanical ventilation."

Dr. Pearce nodded in understanding, but Steve had questions, "how long do you think it will take for him to be able to breathe on his own?"

"It will depend on how long the contusions take to improve. I have started him on steroids, and I don't want him on the vent too long because of the risk of pneumonia. With the broken bones in his chest he is already high risk, and the longer he stays on the vent the more those chances increase, and his body will become dependant on the machine. I'd like to give him overnight for the drugs to have a chance to work. Then we can start easing off on the assistance and let Danny start doing some of the work for himself. I'd really like to see him off the vent within 48 hours."

"Will there be any permanent damage to his lungs?" Chin enquired.

"There shouldn't be, although it may take him some time to regain his usual level of fitness and stamina." Dr. Yokes explained.

"With the right respiratory exercises we can get him back to full fitness, guys. The main problem will be if he develops pneumonia, but Dr. Yokes and I will work closely together to manage Danny's care." Dr. Pearce tried to reassure the worried team.

"That we will," Dr. Yokes agreed, but then focus his attention on his colleague. "However, right now you are to go home and rest. I'll see you in the morning for rounds, and Dr. Plyth has insisted you are on restricted duties. But I managed to persuade him to let you continue to oversee Detective Williams care because of your close connection with the team."

"Thank you, Yuen. I promise now I know Danny is stable I'll go home and rest. Thank you for taking such good care of him." Dr. Pearce trusted her colleague to take good care of her friend. She also knew that he would bend the rules like she did to allow the team to best support Danny, and each other.

"Yeah, thanks Dr. Yokes. We really appreciate everything you have done for Danny. Can we see him now?"

"Of course, you can all see him now, but I'd prefer it if only one of you stayed the rest of the night."

The team quickly agreed, it didn't need to be spoken that Steve would be the one remaining by Danny's side. After a quick farewell to Dr. Pearce, who looked dead on her feet and desperately in need of a well earned rest, the team headed towards to ICU. After a brief visit with their friend, Chin and Lou left for the night. Chin promising to drive to Danny's house, first thing in to morning and gentle break the news of what had happened to Kono and Grace.

Steve settled into the chair beside his best friend and dozed off, lulled by the beeping, hissing, and clicks of the noisy ICU room.

 **TBC**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Steve returned to Danny's ICU room, coffee in hand, and smiled at Dawn and another nurse who were exiting the room. Dawn, a good friend of the team, as she so often ended up taking care of them, had started her shift early that morning and been upset to find out what had happened to Danny, and Dr. Pearce, as the two women were good friends. She had immediately declared herself Danny's nurse for the day and set about making sure he was comfortable, and clean. Steve had stepped out of the room to allow them to take care of his friend's hygiene needs, and taken the opportunity to grab a coffee and a cereal bar from the canteen.

Sitting down in the chair he had spent the night in, Steve was grateful that Danny looked peaceful. Well as peaceful as one could when they had a tube shoved down their throat, and wires, tubes, and IV's connected to practically every part of their body. Dawn and her colleague had propped Danny up on to his left side using pillows to relieve the pressure on his broken ribs. A fresh gown covered the bruises on his chest. Dr. Yokes had reviewed Danny once the others had left the night before wanting to make sure his patient was stable before heading off to rest in the on-call room. This had allowed Steve a quick look at the vast amount of black, blue and purple bruising that covered the majority of his friend's chest.

Given the amount of bruising on the outside, if Danny's lungs were much the same on the inside, he could understand why he would need help with his breathing. The gown however couldn't hide the bruising that had developed around Danny's neck from the attempted strangulation. Anger boiled inside Steve every time he looked at the purple marks. A distinct finger pattern emerging as the bruising developed.

Steve had played the whole situation over and over in his mind throughout the night. If only he hadn't have left Danny's side, if only he had asked to see a picture of Roberto Abello when Chin and Lou filled him in on the case. If he had he would have recognised the danger approaching his friend. None of that could be changed now though, what had happened had happened, and Danny was still here and fighting hard.

Both Danny's doctors were due in soon to review him and Steve hoped that they would be able to start the weaning process, eager to have his friend awake again.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Chin entered the Williams household and found Kono and Grace sat eating breakfast.

"Uncle Chin!" Grace squealed with delight and jumped up to greet him.

"Morning, Keiki." Wrapping Grace in a hug, Chin's heart ached that he was about to deliver bad news.

"What's wrong?" Kono knew her cousin well and could see he was tense. Grace instantly pulled away from her uncle and stared up at him waiting for him to deliver the news he had obviously come to give. Her heart was beating a mile a minute inside her chest.

"There was an incident at the hospital last night. A man came to the hospital and tried to hurt your dad."

"Roberto Abello?" Kono gasped.

Chin nodded. "He's in custody now and no longer poses a threat to your dad."

"Is Danno ok?" Grace could tell there was more news to come.

"The man tried to hurt Dr. Pearce and your dad was really brave. He managed to get the gun away, and Dr. Pearce knocked the man out."

Smiles spread across both girls faces. "Girl power." Kono cheered.

Chin gave a small smile and Kono's face fell when she realised that all was not well.

"Grace, your dad made his injuries worse in the fight. He had to have surgery last night on his stomach, and his lungs aren't strong enough to breathe for him at the moment."

Graces eyes were like saucers absorbing the information she was being fed. "I want to see him."

"I'm sorry, Keiki, they won't let you in to see him yet. But I promise you Uncle Steve's right by his side." Chin saw the young girls face fall.

"I need to be near him too. What...what if he...dies?" Tears filled her eyes and Kono wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

"You're dad isn't going to die, Grace. He just needs to rest for a little bit and let the machines help him breathe. I promise, as soon as the hospital will let you see him we will get you in there." Chin reassured.

"I want to go to the hospital. I'll wait in the waiting room, but I want to be there. Please."

"Ok, but they won't let you in, Grace." Chin wanted to make sure she understood that.

"I know. I just want to be close. Danno will know that I'm there. I know he will, and it will give him the strength to get better."

"I'm sure he will know you are there, too." Kono was amazed at how resilient Grace was.

"Uncle Chin, was Dr. Pearce hurt, is she ok?" Of course Grace would be concerned for everyone involved, just like her father. The doctor was great with Grace, bending the rules wherever she could to allow Grace and Danny to be together whenever possible, and Grace was very fond of her, trusting her to always get her dad back on his feet.

"She'll be fine. She was hurt a little, she got shot in the shoulder, but it would have been much worse if your dad hadn't have stepped in. There is no permanent damage, but she won't be able to operate for a few weeks."

"But she'll be ok?"

"Yes, she will be fine. Now how about we finish breakfast and then we will head to the hospital. Kono and I will keep you company in the waiting room."

Grace nodded and returned to the table. Her appetite deflated, she only nibbled on the remains of her breakfast, eager to be at the hospital where she could at least get regular updates on her father's condition.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve stood out of the way as Dr. Yokes listened to Danny's chest using his stethoscope, while Dr. Pearce observed a fresh X-Ray of Danny's lungs. After a short confer the doctors looked over to Steve, who stepped closer to hear what they had to say.

"The steroids have improved his chest greatly. The inflammation is receding, and we would like to try and start weaning him off the vent." Dr. Yokes announced.

"That's great." Steve's smile lit up the room.

"We are going to have to lighten his sedation to encourage him to start breathing for himself. It will be a balancing act to keep him sedated enough so that he will tolerate the tube, but not too sedated so that he won't breathe for himself." Dr. Pearce explained.

"We're going to gradually wean him using a pressure support system. Danny will have to initiate each breath, but the ventilator will deliver a set amount of pressure to help him breathe. As his breathing improves we will gradually lower the amount of support we provide him with until he is ready for us to remove the tube and wake him up fully." Dr. Yokes continued explaining the procedure.

"How long will all that take?" Steve hoped it wouldn't take long.

"That will depend on Danny. There is still substantial damage to his lung, and the bones in his chest. It could take a day or so, or he could be off by the end of the day. We will just have to play it hour by hour. Dawn will closely monitor his oxygen levels and titration the support accordingly." Dr. Yokes stated.

"Steve, don't get your hopes up too much, I really don't expect him to be off the vent today. It should hopefully be sometime tomorrow though." Dr. Pearce knew how anxious Steve would be and wanted to set him a realistic target."

"Ok. I get it. It's going to take time. But this is good news, right? He's doing better?"

"Yes, he's doing much better." Dr. Pearce agreed and joined Steve in smiling at the detective's improvement.

 **TBC**


	13. Chapter 13

**Note: a big thanks to those of you still reading and reviewing.**

 **Chapter Thirteen**

"Oh my god," A soft exclamation came from the doorway. Steve looked up from the newspaper he was attempting to read as a distraction from watching Danny's every move in anticipation of him waking, and saw Rachel stood staring at the bed.

"Rachel, hey," Steve beckoned her into the room.

"Hello. I just landed and came straight here. Kono informed me that Grace wanted to wait here."

Steve nodded, he had briefly switched places with Kono to go see his niece and fill her in on how Danny was doing. Kono had gladly sat with her friend, gently holding his hand and talking to him. Understanding Grace's need to be close, he had returned to Danny's side promising to tell him that Grace loved her Danno.

"She's upset that she can't see him, but I'm glad they haven't let her. He looks awful. How is he doing? Honestly."

"He's doing better. They have managed to dial down the sedation and he is initiating all the breaths now himself. He is still requiring a lot of support though at the moment."

"But he will be ok?"

"They are confident he will make a full recovery." Steve answered and could see the relief on Danny's ex-wife's face.

"Good. I've managed to persuade Grace to come home with me."

"Really?" Steve was surprised that Grace was willing to leave.

"It took some persuading I can tell you, but Danny wouldn't want her camping out here and worrying herself sick. The rest of your team have promised her they will keep us informed of his progress, and the second he is up to a visit I will bring her straight here. I appreciate that you have all taken care of her so well."

"Grace is family, we all love her. I'm just sorry that we weren't able to protect Danny from getting hurt." Steve looked sadly at his friend, seeing frown lines across his forehead he rubbed a hand along Danny's forearm and watched as Danny relaxed. With the sedation now lighter there had been moments where Steve felt Danny was more aware of his surroundings.

"It's all part of the job. I finally understand that, and understand why he does it. Grace is extremely proud of her father's job." Steve smiled. It was good to hear Rachel finally accepting the dangers of their work.

"Make sure you get some rest yourself, Steve. Danny wouldn't want you making yourself sick. Please keep me informed of how he's doing." Rachel then left the room to collect Grace.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

No longer having to take care of Grace, Chin and Kono joined Steve in Danny's room. Dawn kept coming, and going, checking Danny's vitals and the settings on the ventilator, as well as the sedation levels. Steve sat close by watching Danny. Dawn had to manage a delicate balancing act. Too little sedation and Danny would start to move his head and become unsettled, most of the time Steve was able to calm his friend with the sound of his voice, but other times Dawn would be forced to increase the sedation. Unfortunately that had the less than desired affect on Danny's respiratory rate, sending him under too deep and depressing his body's drive to breathe for himself. So Dawn would have to reduce the sedation, and the cycle would start again. After an hour Chin excused himself, saying he was going to head to the office and help Lou finish up the last of the paperwork. Kono elected to stay to keep Steve company, and also so she could be closer to Danny. Now she didn't have Grace to take care of she felt the need to stay close to support Danny.

Alarms sounded across the ICU, which startled Steve and Kono. Nurses ran across the central space and disappeared into one of the rooms. Looking at each other they silently acknowledged the sadness that somebody was in trouble, hoping that the ICU team would be able to stabilise them. Kono sighed and looked back at Danny. Her heart skipped a beat when she realised that Danny's piercing blue eyes where starring at her.

"Steve, Danny's awake."

Steve snapped his head back to his friend just in time to see Danny raise his right hand and grab hold of the tube protruding from his mouth, as he gagged trying to expel the foreign body. Steve was able to grab hold of Danny's wrist just in time to stop him from yanking the tube out. Ever persistent, Danny's left hand started to rise in an attempt to dislodge the tube, and Steve was force to restrain that hand too.

"Kono, go get help."

Scared eyes locked with his own and Steve could feel the tension ready to explode from his friend's body.

"Danny, it's ok. Relax, let go of the tube buddy. It's there to help you. You're fine. Everything is fine." Danny continued to weakly gag around the tube, and alarms started to blare on the monitors alongside the bedside. Steve carefully managed to prise Danny's fingers away, and continued to gently talk to him as he fought to remove the uncomfortable tube.

Dr. Pearce ran into the room, Kono closely following, and she moved quickly to the pump that dispensed the sedation.

"Hey Danny, just relax for me. You're not ready for the tube to come out yet so I'm going to send you back off to sleep. Don't worry we got you, you're gonna be fine."

Steve saw Danny's lips break into a small smile around to tube at the sight of his friend. He obviously remembered what had happened, and was relieved to see his friend was alive. Seconds later Danny's eyes became heavy and Steve saw the drugs start to pull him back under. Eyes closed, Danny's arms went limp within his own and Steve carefully lowered them back down, careful not to disturb the arterial line in Danny's left wrist that was monitoring his blood pressure, and allowed the medical staff to monitor his blood gasses regularly to determine the vent settings.

Dawn came racing into the room, "what happened? I was helping with another patient."

"It's ok Dawn. Danny just decided it was time to wake up. I increased the sedation and he's settled now." Dr. Pearce explained.

"One minute he was sedated, the next he was awake." Kono said shocked.

"I was only gone a few minutes, Tom needed help in room three." Dawn felt awful that Danny had managed to fully wake, she had been keeping such a close eye on him all morning.

"I was reviewing his chart when Kono called for help. He is obviously rather sensitive to the drugs we are using." Dr. Pearce explained then instructed a new treatment plan. "I think we will dial back the Alfentanyl which is most likely depressing his respiratory system. Unfortunately it may mean he is more likely to be in pain, so I want him to have regular Acetaminophen and PR Diclofenac to help keep on top of his pain. With the damage to his chest, and the abdominal surgery, he is bound to be in a lot of pain."

She started prescribing the medication then looked at Danny's vitals, "he actually held his oxygen levels really well despite the panic. I think if we give him time to settle we should be able to reduce the ventilator support further. Hopefully by tomorrow morning we should have him extubated, and awake."

Steve and Kono looked shaken by the ordeal. "You did well, Steve, keeping him calm and stopping him pulling the tube out. Try not to worry too much. He is fine now and I doubt he will even remember what happened once we properly wake him."

"Will the reduced drugs keep him settled? Won't he wake again?"

"We can increase the sedation to keep him asleep enough to tolerate the tube, but hopefully with less Alfentanyl it won't knock off his respiratory drive." Dr. Pearce explained. Steve and Kono still looked nervous. "Hey guys. Since I can't do much with my arm in this sling I'm stuck doing paperwork. How about I set up camp in the corner, that way I'm here in case he decided to misbehave again."

"That sounds good, doc." Steve slumped back down in the chair beside his friend and took hold of his hand. Danny did look peaceful again, his lips slack around the tube, and his breaths had settled back down to a steady rhythm. Kono cautiously returned to her seat as Dawn started writing down Danny's vitals and documenting in his notes. Dr. Pearce made herself comfortable by the window, and pulled out her PDA.

 **TBC**


	14. Chapter 14

**Note: Apologies that I have t had time to reply to reviews but I am reading them and love every single one.**

 **Now your reward for sticking with me, time for Danny to wake up.**

 **Chapter Fourteen**

Thankfully the rest of the day went without a hitch. Dawn barely left Danny's room, constantly checking and rechecking his sedation level. It was obvious she still felt bad about the situation, even though she had been helping with another patient and wasn't to blame. It was just unfortunate that Danny had chosen that moment to fight the sedation.

Danny's lungs continued to improve and the ventilator support was gradually reduced. Dr. Pearce was confident in her assessment that they would be able to fully remove the ventilator come morning, and when Dr. Yokes reviewed Danny he also agreed.

With Danny's sedation levels now much more stable, Dr. Pearce excused herself and headed home. Steve forced Kono to go home too. Ignoring the cot that had been set up for him, Steve instead chose to remain in the chair beside Danny. His hand resting on Danny's arm in the hope he would be able to detect any movement from his friend, Steve slept the whole night that way.

When Dr. Pearce and Dr. Yokes arrived to review Danny, Steve was still sleeping. Dawn had returned for another shift and gently woke Steve. She had learnt to keep her distance when rousing the sleeping ex SEAL.

"Morning, Steve. I see you didn't make use of the cot we arranged." Dr. Pearce scolded.

"I'm fine in the chair. I've slept in much worse positions. How's he doing?"

"Very well, we feel that he is ready to extubate now. He will still need High flow oxygen, and stay another 24 hours in the ICU, but hopefully he should be able to be moved back to the CCU tomorrow." Dr. Pearce smiled.

"That's great news. Grace will be so relieved she can see him again."

"Why don't you take a moment to stretch your legs and make those good news phone calls? We will stop the sedation completely and get that tube out. Given what happened yesterday I expect he'll wake fairly fast. We will have to manage his pain more carefully then. Dawn could you set up a PCAS for him?" Dr. Yokes requested.

"Of course, Dr. Yokes," Dawn immediately left the room to get the supplies needed. Steve reluctantly left the ICU but decided to wait in the waiting room so he wouldn't be far away in case Danny decided to wake immediately. The team were all relieved to hear the good news, and Grace was over the moon, but impatient for her dad to be moved from the ICU so she could see him.

Steve was right not to go far. It wasn't long before Dr. Yokes exited the ICU. "He's showing signs of waking already if you want to go back in. Dr. Pearce will be taking lead on his case again from now on."

"Thanks for everything Dr. Yokes." Steve hurried back to Danny's side just in time to enter the room and see Dawn push Danny's hand away from his face.

"Steve, I'm glad you're back. He's waking up and doesn't like the mask, but he isn't awake enough for me to get through to him. You try, he responds well to you."

Steve took his position on Danny's left side and took over holding Danny's hand. "Danny, wake up. You need to open your eyes now."

Danny responded by pulling his right hand away from Dawn's grip and attempted to dislodge the mask once again. Grabbing hold of the offending arm Steve scolded. "Hey cut it out, the mask needs to stay. Come on Danno. First you wake up when we want you asleep and scare the hell out of us, now we want you awake you're napping, quit being so stubborn and open those eyes. Come on Danno, open your eyes."

Finally Steve was rewarded for his persistence, and Danny prised his tired eyes open. "There you go." Steve encouraged and Danny's eyes slowly tracked around the room and finally settled on his friend's face.

"Where?" Danny croaked and immediately winced as his throat burned like he had swallowed a red hot poker, and his chest seized causing him to cough.

"Here, Danny." Dawn lifted the mask and allowed Danny to sip the water she offered him through a straw.

Realising he still had hold of his friends wrists Steve cautiously let go, ready to catch them again if Danny fought the mask. Dawn placed the mask back over Danny's mouth and nose and explained that it needed to stay put. Danny nodded in acceptance and Steve relaxed a little.

"What ..appended?" Danny was relieved to find the burning pain had settled down leaving only a scratchy feeling.

"Do you remember getting shot in the vest?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, and..." Danny's eyes exploded in panic as he remembered what had happened in his hospital room, and Steve realised that the doctors had been right and Danny didn't remember his premature awakening the day before. "Andrea, is she ok? Where is she?"

"She's fine, Danny. Calm your breathing down. I promise she's ok."

"Really?" Danny seemed unable to accept what he was being told. The sound of the gun going off, and seeing his friend drop, replaying in his mind, he tried to sit forward to look for her.

"Really." A voice repeated from the doorway. Dr. Pearce entered the room and moved closer to the bed so Danny could see her. "You need to relax and calm down. Your fight with that guy caused your contusions to worsen, and you needed surgery on your abdomen, and support with your breathing. Behave for us and do as you're told, and hopefully we can move you out of the ICU tomorrow."

Sinking back against the bed a smile spread across Danny's face, but soon turned into a frown when he saw the sling supporting is friend's damaged shoulder.

Misunderstanding the frown she quickly asked, "Danny are you in pain?"

"No, are you? Are you ok?"

Realising he was focusing on her shoulder, she replied, "What this? It's just a graze. I'm fine."

"Is she telling the truth?" Danny looked at Dawn for confirmation.

Dawn rolled her eyes, "she is as bad as you two. No, it's not a graze, it's a through and through. But yes she will be fine."

"Doc's made of strong stuff, Danny. She took out Abello even with a hole in her shoulder." Steve smiled. "Then she took care of you."

Danny seemed to consider this information, the drugs still in his system making him sluggish.

"Well I did have help in that department. Danny I'd like to just give your chest a quick listen to if that's ok?"

Danny nodded. He was already exhausted from just the short burst of activity, and now that he had been brought up to speed he was beginning to become aware of the deep ache in his abdomen, and the grating of his ribs each time he breathed. Then there was the constant pain in the centre of his chest that was beginning to grow.

Satisfied with her patient's vitals Dr. Pearce then picked up the button for the pain pump in her good hand. "Danny we have a pain pump set up for you again, do you remember how to use it?"

Danny nodded, too tired to speak, and his throat had started to ache again. As if by magic Dawn removed the mask and offered him a sip of water. "Use the pump Danny. We can all tell you are in pain now. We'll leave you to rest, but the oxygen needs to stay on."

Danny fumbled with the button and heard the beep of the machine by his bedside that signalled the release of the drugs. A feeling of warmth spread through his body, and he closed his eyes.

Dr. Pearce looked at Steve and smiled. "He's doing well. Right on track to be moved to CCU tomorrow. You can let Grace know she should be able to visit tomorrow afternoon.

The sound of his daughter's name suddenly roused Danny from his doze, "Grace, where is Grace? Is she ok?"

"She's fine Danny. Worried about you obviously, but Rachel is back on the island and has her. She will bring her to visit as soon as she's allowed." Steve informed his friend.

"Tomorrow?"

"All being well, yes, tomorrow, Danny." Dr. Pearce confirmed. Danny's eyes slid closed again. Steve pulled out his phone and sent off a message to everyone, including his niece that Danny had woken and was now resting comfortably.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Danny slept for two hours solid then spent the rest of the day cat napping. The rest of the team had arrived at various points of the day, staggering their visits so not to overtire Danny. Kono was the last to arrive, and insisted Steve take the opportunity to go home to shower and eat before returning to stay the night again. With Danny's encouragement, and a few jokes about how ripe Steve was starting to smell, he reluctantly left, leaving Kono with instructions to ring if anything happened.

"You still mad at me?" Danny asked once they were alone.

"What?" Kono asked confused then remembered back to the last time she had really spoken to Danny, and her shouting at him for taking a bullet for her. "Oh, no Danny, I'm sorry I shouted at you. I was just scared for you and felt responsible."

"It wasn't your fault, babe. I chose to get in the way, I know it seemed crazy but I knew I had two vests on. I had the better chance."

Tears had formed in Kono's eyes and she carefully took hold of Danny's hand. "Thank you Danny. I'm so glad you're ok."

"Me too, babe. Thanks for taking care of Grace for me."

"It was no problem. It was the least I could do after what you did for me. We had fun anyway, we watched The Notebook."

"You sat through The Notebook? Now we are definitely even." Danny joked.

Kono smiled and relaxed back in the chair, relieved that Danny was going to be ok and that there was no tension between them.

The two continued to talk, Kono more than Danny as he focused on his breathing. He found if he didn't breathe too deeply the pain wasn't as bad. Danny's eyes had finally slipped closed, and Kono was confident her friend was sleeping again. Hearing Steve's voice outside the room she stood and leaned over, placing a soft goodbye kiss on her sleeping friend's forehead. She was surprised to find an unnatural heat to it, and concern rose in her chest as she remembered back to the several small coughing fits Danny had had throughout her visit. They had been warned that Danny was high risk of developing pneumonia. Kono only hoped that she was being paranoid and more trouble didn't lie ahead for her injured friend.

 **TBC**


	15. Chapter 15

**Note: let's see what's going on with Danny.**

 **Chapter Fifteen**

Kono and Steve were sat beside Danny's bed waiting for Dr. Pearce to return with results of the chest X-Ray that had just been taken. Danny was sleeping once again, oblivious to the worry he was now causing. Kono had alerted Dawn to Danny's rise in temperature, and after a quick check she confirmed it had risen to 101.5 and contacted Dr. Pearce, who had ordered the X-Ray and blood tests.

Two worried faces looked up from their seats as Dr. Pearce entered the room. "I've reviewed the tests and I'm afraid Danny has developed pneumonia."

"Is that going to set him back?" Steve was worried, his friend had only just made it off the vent and now there was a real chance he could end up back on it.

"Possibly, however I am going to start him on strong antibiotics and hopefully we can keep on top of it. He is doing well at the moment on the high flow oxygen, and his oxygen levels are stable. I've paged the on call physiotherapist to come and see him tonight. Danny was scheduled to see them tomorrow anyway for some breathing exercises to help strengthen his lung, and to start getting him up and moving."

"Does this mean he won't be moving out of ICU tomorrow?" Kono asked.

"Let's see how he goes overnight, try not to panic too much. We'll repeat the X-Ray in the morning and see how he's doing. Dr. Yokes is on call tonight so he is in good hands."

Steve looked over at his sleeping friend, his skin looked clammy from the temperature, but his chest was rising and falling without too much of a struggle. Steve also noted that the bruising around his throat was no longer the deep purple, now it was turning to sickly yellows and greens.

The end of visiting hours arrived and Kono reluctantly left Steve to spend the night with Danny. Dawn had been replaced on shift with a new nurse who introduced himself as Kevin. As promised the on call physiotherapist stopped by and went through some exercises to help clear Danny's lungs. Steve took careful note of the exercises so he could coach Danny through them in between his sessions with the physiotherapist. Kevin had carefully sponged Danny down and changed his gown after the physiotherapy session which left Danny exhausted and in pain.

Steve stepped closer to his friend, picked up the pain pump, and pressed the button dispensing the pain relief into his friends system.

"I didn't need that." Danny complained.

"Yes you did. You heard the physio. You have to make sure you take deep breaths, and to do that you need to keep on top of the pain."

Danny rolled his eyes, but he had to admit to himself that the pain relief made it easier for him to take a deeper breath. Unfortunately that caused a coughing jag which left him completely spent and drifting off into an exhausted sleep.

Steve sat watching Danny's chest rise and fall, he was tempted to ring Rachel to warn her that Grace may not be able to visit the next day, but he didn't want her to worry about Danny when it may not be necessary.

Kevin returned to the room pushing a cot. "Dr. Pearce said you are to use this tonight or I am to evict you from the room."

"Thanks, I think I will obey orders tonight. My neck is pretty stiff from spending last night in the chair."

Kevin moved over to Danny's bed and trying not to wake his sleeping patient he slipped the thermometer into his ear. A beep sounded and he looked at the screen. "100.2 it's holding steady. You should get some rest. I promise I'll keep a close eye on him."

Steve nodded and made his way over to the cot, kicking off his shoes he sank down onto the mattress. It wasn't the comfiest of beds but it was better than the hard chair. Danny's room was much quieter now without the clicking and whooshing of the vent. However there was still a steady hiss of the oxygen and wiring of pumps, providing Danny with a steady stream of fluids, pain relief and now antibiotics. Rolling onto his side so he could see the monitors he watched the green line skip across the screen signalling to everyone Danny's heartbeats. The effect was hypnotising and he finally let his eyes close as he slipped off to sleep.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve sat upright on the cot as the shrill of alarms sounded around Danny's bed. Blanket discarded on the floor he ran to Danny's side. Danny was clutching at his chest, his lips blue, and he made a horrible wheeze with every breath he took. Steve hit the emergency button and grabbed his friend's hand. Danny clung to him as he struggled to suck in precious oxygen. Still no one came to help.

"Somebody help! We need help in here."

Steve watched as Danny's eyes rolled into the back of his head and the wheezing stopped. Danny had stopped breathing, and another alarm joined the chorus to signal his heart had also stopped.

"Somebody, help, please." Steve begged as he started compressions on his friend's chest.

Finally the medical team ran into the room. Kevin took over from Steve doing compressions as Dr. Yokes forced a tube back down Danny's throat and connected it to a bag.

Steve was pushed back into a corner of the room and could only watch as the medical team fought to revive Danny, whose whole body was turning an alarming shade of blue. Orders were shouted, and Steve's heart hammered in his own chest as he watched drug after drug be pushed through Danny's central line in an attempt to re start his heart.

"Come on Danny, come on. Don't do this." Steve begged.

Dr. Yokes stopped squeezing the bag and stepped back from the bed shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I think we lost him."

"No." Steve shouted. "No, you have to keep trying, he was doing better. Keep going!"

Kevin ceased the chest compressions and the green light on the monitor that Steve had happily watched early, ran straight across the screen. Steve stared at it willing it to start its skipping again. Danny couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be.

 **TBC**

 **Oh no. Did I just do that?**


	16. Chapter 16

**Note: of course it was a dream. I'm not that mean to Danny.**

 **Chapter Sixteen**

"No." Steve sat bolt upright on the cot and swung his head towards the bed where he had last seen the medical team battling to save Danny's life. Danny jumped a little at the sound of Steve's voice, but kept on sleeping. Instead of the blue tinge to his skin, Danny's cheeks held a red glow, mainly hidden below the oxygen mask.

Kevin quickly entered the room, immediately looking towards the bed. Seeing nothing wrong with his patient he looked toward Steve.

"Sorry Kevin. Bad dream." Steve ran a shaky hand across his face doing his best to purge his mind of the horrific scenes of his dream.

"About Danny?" Kevin wisely asked.

"Yeah." Steve replied with a shaky breath. "How's he doing?"

"His temperature has come down to 100 now, and his vitals are holding steady. I did have to increase his oxygen a little though to keep his oxygen levels above 95%."

"Should I be worried about that?"

"Not really. We can still increase his oxygen a lot more before we have to start thinking about additional pressure support again. His temperature is coming down, which means the antibiotics are starting to work. I wouldn't worry too much." Kevin tried to reassure Steve. He could see how much the commander had been shaken by his dream. "Can I get you anything, Commander?"

Steve stood and stretched his legs. "No, thanks, I'm good now. It was just a stupid dream."

Kevin smiled and left the room as Steve walked back over to the chair and sat down. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep again. Looking at his watch he realised he had managed to get a solid four hours, so he elected to just sit and watch Danny sleep.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve startled, and was surprised to realise he had actually fallen back to sleep. The beep of Danny's pain pump had woken him, and he sleepily rubbed his eyes.

"You know you would have slept better on the cot I had them give you." Dr. Pearce chastised, and Steve realised she was stood at the bottom of Danny's bed checking his chart. He had slept so long he had missed the shift change.

"She's right you know. I don't know who looks worse, you or..." Danny was interrupted by a coughing fit. His left hand flew to support his chest, his right to his abdomen. Tears leaked from his eyes as he struggled to control his breathing.

Cough finally under control, Danny lay back concentrating on his breathing. Dr. Pearce attempted to place her stethoscope in her ears, struggling one handed. Danny gave a small giggle which caused him to cough some more.

"That's karma for laughing at me Daniel Williams, now let me listen to your chest." Dawn assisted Dr. Pearce with the stethoscope, and she listened to Danny's chest. Dawn and Steve had to assist Danny to sit forward so she could listen to his back, and they all frowned as Danny grunted at the pain the movement caused.

Exam finished Dr. Pearce flicked through the chart once more. "Ok. I think we should get another X-Ray. Your chest sounds a little worse than yesterday. We will increase your oxygen for now."

Dawn fiddled with the oxygen and Danny scowled.

"I'm not moving...out of ...here today...am I?"

Dr. Pearce looked sympathetically at the sick detective. "I'm sorry Danny. I want to keep you closely monitored. Your temperature is still elevated and I can hear congestion on your lungs."

"So, no, Grace?" Danny turned his head away not wanting to show how disappointed he was. As much as he wanted to see his daughter, he knew she would want to see him more. That she would be worried about him, and he wanted to reassure her that despite the fact he didn't feel great, he was ok."

"How about we strike a deal?" Dr. Pearce offered. "We get the X-Ray, and you see the physio this morning then rest. This afternoon I will allow her to visit for 30 minutes, and I mean only thirty minutes."

Danny broke out into a massive smile. "That's presuming you and her mother think she will be ok seeing you in here. You only have a few more lines since the last time she saw you, so it shouldn't be too scary. However I do have a proviso."

"I'm sure we can work with whatever, doc, Grace is desperate to see her dad." Steve agreed.

"I will be present during the visit, and if I think it is too much for either of you, or I'm worried about your breathing. Grace leaves instantly. She will need that explaining to her before she comes in."

"I'll explain it. I'm sure she will be happy to go with that and I'll explain about the extra monitors." Steve agreed, he would do anything to reunite the pair.

"Ok, but if Danny's condition changes, between now and this afternoon, the deal is off. I don't think it likely but I want that understood."

"Understood," Both men echoed.

Dr. Pearce left to go make arrangements for the X-Ray, and Steve nipped out to the waiting room to update the team, especially Kono, knowing how worried she was the night before. Lastly he rang Rachel and explained the deal to her, and started putting plans in place for Grace's visit.

When Steve returned to Danny's room he found the X-Ray had been completed, and Dawn had helped Danny freshen up. Without his hair products his blonde locks kept falling forward, and Steve made a mental note to ask one of the team to call by Danny's and fetch in some of his things.

Steve took the seat next to his friend and filled him in on the plan for Grace's visit, while they waited for the physiotherapist to come, Steve really hoped that Danny remained stable and the antibiotics continued to work, he really didn't want to disappoint Grace and have to cancel her visit.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve breathed a breath of relief as he walked down the hospital corridor hand in hand with his niece. Thankfully Danny had remained stable. The physiotherapist had visited, and between the two of them they had managed to get Danny sitting in the chair beside his bed for a little while. Danny managed to practice the breathing exercises he had been shown the night before. He had then napped for a while, and surprised everyone by managing to eat half a bowl of broth and some crackers. Everyone except Steve that was, he knew Danny was determined to show he was well enough for Grace to visit. Dr. Pearce had returned after lunch and reviewed Danny once again, pleased with his progress. The oxygen was dialled down again and the go ahead for the young girl to visit given. Dr. Pearce was confident that the antibiotics were working, and the pneumonia was being kept at bay. She was quietly confident that Danny would be ready to be moved out of the ICU the next day, and it wouldn't be long before he would be ready for a normal room, and then discharged home.

Steve had taken time explaining to Grace about the new lines in her dads arm, and neck, and that they were there to monitor her Dad and give the drugs he needed. She'd taken it all in her stride. Grace held a brown paper bag in her other hand that Steve knew contained presents for her dad.

Steve guided Grace into the room, making sure she didn't see into any of the other rooms, or their extremely ill occupants. Thankfully Danny was now the fittest patient on the unit.

"Hey monkey." Danny greeted his daughter.

"Danno," Grace ran to the bed and grabbed hold of his hand. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better, baby, I just need to get this silly cough better and I'll be home in no time."

"Are you still really sore?"

"Yeah, but I think it will take a while for that to change. Remember when you broke your arm at cheerleading. It took a few weeks to heal and stop hurting right? Well it's going to take a little while for my ribs, and sternum, to heal."

Grace seemed to brighten at that, placed her bag on the bed, and started pulling things out. "I made you a get well card, and I brought you your favourite picture of us. That way I'll always be with you."

Danny smiled and looked at the card. "I also brought you some of your hair stuff because, well look." Grace giggled and pointed to her dad's messy hair. Steve couldn't help but join in. Danny just pretended to be hurt and attempted to smooth back his hair.

"I wanted to bring more things, but mom said you wouldn't be allowed them yet."

"Thanks monkey, I appreciate all these, and this card is a real work of art."

Grace smiled and reached into the bag a final time. She removed another card and a small teddy then stepped away from the bed and headed over to Dr. Pearce, who was sitting quietly at the back of the room doing paperwork. "I made you one too Dr. Pearce. Thanks for saving my dad."

"Oh, thank you." Dr. Pearce was a little taken aback by the lovely surprise. The teddy was wearing a Wonder Woman costume, but Grace had added a small stethoscope from one of her dolls. "You know your dad saved me too."

"I know, but he already knows how great I think he is?" Grace returned to her father and the two made the most of her short visit. By the end of the thirty minutes Danny was obviously worn out, but seeing how much good it was doing him Dr. Pearce let them have the full time she had allowed. Grace showed her maturity when it was time to leave, kissed her father goodbye without a fuss, and followed her Uncle out of the room.

Dr. Pearce checked Danny's vitals, making sure his pain levels were adequate. "She is such a cutie pie."

"Thanks, she is pretty awesome." Danny smiled.

When Steve returned to the room from taking Grace back to Rachel, Danny was fast asleep, and for the first time since the whole ordeal, he looked peaceful and carefree.

 **TBC**


	17. Chapter 17

**Note: I'd like to thank everyone for all the the reviews they have left. This was my longest story so far and has gained the most reviews but it's tome to bring it to an end.**

 **im afraid the next one might be a long time coming as I haven't started anything yet and the kids are off school so not much time to write.**

 **Lastly i I would like to thank wenwalke for all the help she gives me. Sending her lots of hugs at the moment.**

 **Chapter Seventeen**

Danny sat on the edge of his hospital bed swinging his legs. He was waiting for Dr. Pearce to come with his discharge papers, and he was itching to get out of there after his week long stay. The whole team had turned up to surprise him, bringing Grace along with them.

Grace was carefully packing away his things, with Kono's help.

Finally Steve entered the room pushing a wheelchair, Dr. Pearce followed behind. "So I have all your paperwork here, Danny. Prescriptions for pain meds, and antibiotics, you need to make sure you keep taking both. You have your PT sessions booked in, and make sure you keep doing your breathing exercises."

Steve helped Danny up from the bed and into the wheelchair, "don't worry, he will."

"Now remember it is going to take some time for you to fully heal, don't go overdoing things. I want you to follow my orders."

"Ever heard the phrase that involves the words pot and kettle, Andrea? I'm pretty sure you should still have that arm in a sling." Danny pointed out.

Dr. Pearce flushed red. She had indeed gone against her own doctor's orders and discarded her sling. While it would be a few more weeks until she was cleared for surgery, she found it much easy rounding on her patients without the restriction. "Ok, you got me there, but seriously, no over doing it. Your lungs are still weak, and you need to build up your stamina again."

"Don't worry I plan to take it easy. Plus you're joining us for dinner tonight at Steve's, right?" The team had planned a cookout on the beach to celebrate Danny's discharge. Pua Kai and Duke Lukela were joining them.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, there has to be some advantages to being on restricted duties. No on calls, so I don't miss out on the parties."

"Alright then people, let's get this show on the road." Lou announced, grabbing hold of one of Danny's bags. Chin took the paperwork informing them that he would collect the meds on the way to Steve's, and they all filed out of the hospital.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

The party was in full swing later that day, Kamekona and Flippa had joined them, as well as Lou's family. Danny had agreed to stay with Steve for a few days, and Rachel had agreed to Grace staying the night so she could enjoy the party.

Danny was indeed following orders to take it easy and was resting in a chair in the shade with pillows strategically places to support him to ease his chest. His next dose of painkillers was due soon, and he was starting to feel rather uncomfortable. He watched as Pua and Duke laughed along with Chin and Lou.

Grace was playing hostess, handing out drinks to everyone, with Kono's help. Dr. Pearce had just arrived and was talking to Steve. Danny closed his eyes and shifted a little in the chair trying to ease the pressure on his ribs.

"Steve has gone to fetch your pain relief." Andrea's familiar voice sounded in his ear.

"I see you admitted defeat." Danny indicated the sling now back in place.

"Hey, I couldn't have you and Pua stealing all the sympathy now could I?"

Steve joined them and handed Danny the meds and a fresh bottle of water, then grabbed chairs for himself and Dr. Pearce. Danny thanked him and swallowed the pills down.

Grace came over and passed them all a drink off her tray. "Uncle Chin said you all need a drink, I think that he, and Uncle Lou, are going to make a speech."

"Really?" Danny wondered what his friend had planned. He had noticed, several times that evening that Chin, Lou, and Duke huddled in conversation.

They didn't have to wonder long because Chin stepped forward and attracted everyone's attention. Lou and Duke were stood close by. "I just wanted to say a few words. This week we came close to losing several members of our Ohana and I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I'm so relieved that everyone came through it ok. Duke, Lou, and I have completed all the paperwork for this case, but we felt that there was some extra paperwork that needed to be completed."

"We would like to announce that Dr. Pearce will be receiving a citizen bravery award for her actions in Danny's hospital room." Lou reached down under the table near them and retrieved a large bouquet of flowers. Calling Grace over he allowed her to present them to the flabbergasted doctor. Cheers erupted from the small gathering, causing her to blush.

Duke then stepped forward. "Officer Kai will be receiving a commendation for his alertness. If he hadn't pulled over the car that alerted us to all of this then lives could have been lost. We are all grateful that he is healing well, and expected to make a full recovery." Grace returned to the trio and presented Pua with a bottle of champagne as cheers erupted again. A massive smile was plastered across the young officer's face. A commendation so early in his career was a massive achievement.

Chin waiting for the noise to settle down again. "I would personally like to thank Danny. Without his quick thinking at the warehouse Kono probably wouldn't be here today, Mahalo, brah." Danny raised his glass in acknowledgment, and Chin continued, "then even when seriously injured he leapt into action when we could have lost Dr. Pearce. With the Governor's backing Danny will also be receiving a commendation."

"What? I was just doing my job. We do that almost every day." Danny said shocked.

"Well it's about time the Governor acknowledged it." Lou helped Grace carry over a large wrapped parcel. "Now this is for the office, but we thought we would present it now. There will of course be an official ceremony for each of you."

Everyone gathered around eager to see what was under the wrapping. "Gracie, why don't you un-wrap it?" Danny said.

Grace eagerly tore off the paper revealing a boxed frame. Inside the frame, side by side, was each of the vests that Danny had worn that day. The holes left by the bullets could easily be seen on the vest on the right.

"We are going to hang it in the main office as a reminder of how important these things are." Chin explained.

"The Governor is also purchasing us the most up to date vests available. They provide much better protection against armour piercing rounds." Lou announced. Once more cheers erupted, and Grace wrapped her arms around her father.

"Ok everyone, time to eat." Steve announced wanting to draw the attention away from the three people who had been left stunned.

The Ohana started plating up food, Kono showed Dr. Pearce into the kitchen to find a vase for her flowers. Steve however didn't move from Danny's side. The detective was staring at the framed vests. "If you don't want them on display I'll speak to Chin and Lou."

"No, no it's fine. It's a nice thought, and if it reminds you to put on your vest at least once without me nagging you then it will be worth its weight in gold." Danny rubbed his chest. He was still waiting for the pain killers to kick in.

"You ok?" Steve was concerned by how quiet Danny was.

"Yeah, just tired, and uncomfortable. The frame is a nice idea but I don't deserve the commendation."

"The hell you don't. You saved Kono from being hurt, and you saved the doc. Danny if you were still with HPD you would no doubt have several more commendations under your belt, and have received a promotion. You are out of the system in the taskforce; take the recognition for the good work you do. Now why don't I grab you some food then help you inside so you can have a lie down."

"Yeah, thanks." Danny watched as Steve joined the rest of the Ohana at the food table. Duke was helping Pua with his plate. Kono and Dr. Pearce had returned from the kitchen and were laughing at the amount of food Kamekona and Flippa had managed to pile on their plate, and Grace was talking with Samantha. Danny still didn't feel he had done anything out of the ordinary to deserve an award. But if it meant that two members of their Ohana were still with them to enjoy the party, he was at least grateful that he acted the way he did. Looking back down at the vests he smiled, realising that the true hero in all of this was his daughter. If it wasn't for her he wouldn't have been wearing that second vest. As Steve returned with a plate of food his mind was already planning what he could do to reward her, and he was sure Steve would only be too happy to help him come up with a plan.

 **THE END**


End file.
